Louisiana college students start new year with fee hikes

Published 7:14 a.m. CT Aug. 20, 2018 | Updated 7:18 a.m. CT Aug. 20, 2018

Louisiana college students start new year with fee hikes

BATON ROUGE – When thousands of Louisiana college students return to classes this week, many of them face another round of boosted costs, as the price tag for getting a degree creeps ever higher.

Two of Louisiana’s four public college systems – the LSU and Southern University systems – enacted campuswide fee hikes of up to 5 percent on their students. The ever-increasing fee charges aren’t covered by the state’s TOPS tuition aid program.

Full-time students on LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge are paying $282 more a semester. On Southern’s campus in Baton Rouge, full-time undergraduates have to pony up an extra $217 per semester. At Southern University at New Orleans, they’re paying $169 a semester more. Students are facing higher charges at LSU’s campuses in Alexandria, Shreveport and Eunice, too.

The decision stunned some state lawmakers who thought students would be spared such increases after higher education was shielded from state financing cuts.

College Fee Increase