For decades, the Louisiana Legislature has decided on how much students should pay in tuition for each of our state’s colleges and universities, but soon that could all change.
This Legislative Session, Senator Dan “Blade” Morrish of Lake Charles proposed Senate Bill 80 to give institutions the right to set their own tuition.
“It’s in the hands of the university, and not in the hands of the legislature. When the universities know what their costs are, they know what needs for tuition they have,” said Morrish.
The bill already passed the Senate and just past the House this week with a 98-7 vote. Now, voters like Corey Smith will get to choose if it’ll happen.
“By the time I left Southern, it was somewhere around $12,000,” said Smith, who’s running for the District 12 Metro Council Seat. “As a taxpayer and as a voter, I would vote in favor of the institutions controlling the cost of tuition.”
With higher education cuts increasing over the past decade, Senator Morrish hopes this will be what our institutions need to rebuild.
“I mean, so it gives them a management tool to work with and a decision to make, and you know, we live in a capitalistic society,” said Morrish. “It allows them to look at what their competition is doing and set their rates where they need to set them.”
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