Tuition increases are on the horizon at Fletcher, Nicholls

Students at most of Louisiana’s postsecondary institutions, including all three in the Houma-Thibodaux region, will likely pay more for their education than they did last year, as state-allowed tuition increases near formal approval.

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System’s Board of Supervisors last week approved a 10-percent increase in tuition for the 2014-15 school year for most of its member institutions, including Fletcher Technical Community College and South Central Louisiana Technical College. The board’s proposal still needs approval from the state Board of Regents, which next meets on June 25.

Nicholls State University seeks to increase its tuition by 10-percent for 2014-15, Executive Vice President Larry Howell said, though the school also needs Regents’ approval.

Should the Regents approve the hikes, as expected, Fletcher’s full-time students would pay an additional $162 per semester and full-time SCL Technical College students would pay $115 more per semester. Full-time, in-state undergraduates at Nicholls would pay roughly $320 more per semester.

“The return on investment each LCTCS student receives is always invaluable,” said Jessica Thornton, Fletcher’s director of institutional advancement, via email. “While our tuition may slightly increase, it remains far below the investment required to attend a four-year institution or a private training provider.”

The tuition increases when coupled with stable state allotments – barring mid-year cuts – would provide public institutions with a modest infusion of revenue after several years of cuts.

They are indicative of the model Louisiana has adopted to fund higher education, with students paying more and more each year since 2010 while the state has cut nearly $700 million in funding since 2008, according to The Associated Press’ figures.

Louisiana’s qualifying postsecondary schools have been allowed to increase their tuition annually since passage of the Grad Act, but the increases in self-generated revenues in their budgets were washed out by lower state contributions each time until the coming fiscal year.

The Grad Act introduced 52 metrics to gauge performance and offers the reward of an annual 10-percent tuition increase, as long as the cost to students does not exceed the average tuition charged at public universities in 16 states represented by the Southern Regional Education Board.

The SREB annual median tuition was $2,951 at two-year schools in 2011-12, the latest available data, and $6,532 at four-year institutions. Those figures have grown over the past two years, but as of now it’s unclear how much.

Fletcher’s ’13-14 tuition including mandatory fees was $135 per credit hour, or $1,616 per semester for full-time, in-state students. The 10-percent hike would have in-state students pay $148 per hour and $1778 for a full-time slate of classes, which translates to $3,556 per year.

Students at SCL Technical College, which has campuses in Thibodaux, Galliano, Morgan City and Reserve, would pay $1,263 per semester for a full slate of classes, up from $1,148.

Nicholls’ full-time students paid $6,408 for fall and spring tuition and fees in 2013-14.

Overall, the state’s system of technical and community college would raise $14.1 million from the tuition hikes, according to documents accepted by the board of supervisors. Fletcher would generate an added $555,000, and SCL would see an additional $265,000.

Specific 2014-15 budget projections at the local colleges and university were not available. The fiscal year begins July 1.

At Fletcher, enrollment was 2,600 last fall and 2,250 in the spring. Revenue from tuition made up more than 60 percent of the school’s $8.2 million spending plan, retiring Chancellor Travis Lavigne said in April.

SCLTC Chancellor Earl Meador, who on Monday also assumed the role of Fletcher’s interim chancellor, said students would ultimately see benefits from paying a higher tuition.

“Our students come to us as one stop on life’s journey,” Meador said in a printed statement. “ … That journey may be to just obtain a good paying job or perhaps enough training so they can move on to the university system and after that seek the profession they desire. If we don’t do all that is possible to invest in their futures, we have failed in our mission of serving our students and community.”