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SU board to consider $120 fee
By SCOTT DYER
sdyer@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
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In Other Action
When the Southern University Board of Supervisors considers a proposal to boost fees at Southern's Baton Rouge campus today, they'll be in Texas.
Southern University Chancellor Edward Jackson said he intends to recommend that the board impose a $120-a-semester academic excellence fee for full-time students at a special meeting today at the Hotel InterContinental in Houston.
"The board had already scheduled a retreat in Houston, and isn't slated to meet again until next month. And so this will be the board's only opportunity to consider this matter," Jackson said.
Jackson said his campus has seven programs coming up for regional accreditation this year; money from the fee is sorely needed to help pass muster with the regional agencies that evaluate college programs to make sure they meet minimum standards.
Jackson said he also plans to use some of the money for faculty pay raises and to purchase scientific equipment.
Jackson emphasized the unusual out-of-state meeting isn't an attempt to dodge public input, but merely the most convenient way to take advantage of a new fee created in the last hours of the recent legislative session.
"The legislation wasn't passed at our last board meeting, so our board didn't have a chance to consider it then -- and they don't have a July meeting scheduled," Jackson said.
"This Houston trip had been planned for a year, and it's really the only chance that our board will have to consider the fee in time for the fall semester," Jackson said.
Southern isn't the only college system moving swiftly to take advantage of the new fee.
The LSU Board of Supervisors is slated to consider an academic excellence fee Friday in Baton Rouge that will boost the cost of attending LSU by $120 a semester for full-time students.
LSU System Vice President Bill Silvia said LSU's Baton Rouge campus is one of several LSU campuses that want to take advantage of the new academic-enhancement fee this fall.
Late last month, the governing board of the University of Louisiana System authorized all eight of its universities to start charging full-time students a new $120-per-semester academic excellence fee in August.
The proposed new fee, approved in the waning hours of the recent legislative session, will not be covered by the state-funded Tuition Opportunity Program for Students.
On Wednesday, the board that oversees the state's community and technical colleges authorized its two-year schools to impose an academic excellence fee of up to $78 per semester for full-time students beginning this fall.
The chancellor of Baton Rouge Community College said she doesn't plan to implement the proposed fee this fall, which would have cost full-time students up to $84 a semester.
"We're going to try and hold off for a while," said Chancellor Myrtle Dorsey said.
South Louisiana Community College Chancellor Jan Campbell Brobst said she intends to implement the full $7-an-hour academic excellence fee -- up to a maximum of $84 for full-time students taking 12 hours or more -- at her school's campuses in Lafayette, New Iberia and Franklin.
River Parishes Community College Chancellor Joe Ben Welch also said he plans to impose a $5-per-hour fee at his Sorrento campus this fall.
Welch said his school likely will impose the remaining $2 academic excellence fee in the fall of 2004.
By SCOTT DYER
sdyer@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau
Related:
In Other Action
When the Southern University Board of Supervisors considers a proposal to boost fees at Southern's Baton Rouge campus today, they'll be in Texas.
Southern University Chancellor Edward Jackson said he intends to recommend that the board impose a $120-a-semester academic excellence fee for full-time students at a special meeting today at the Hotel InterContinental in Houston.
"The board had already scheduled a retreat in Houston, and isn't slated to meet again until next month. And so this will be the board's only opportunity to consider this matter," Jackson said.
Jackson said his campus has seven programs coming up for regional accreditation this year; money from the fee is sorely needed to help pass muster with the regional agencies that evaluate college programs to make sure they meet minimum standards.
Jackson said he also plans to use some of the money for faculty pay raises and to purchase scientific equipment.
Jackson emphasized the unusual out-of-state meeting isn't an attempt to dodge public input, but merely the most convenient way to take advantage of a new fee created in the last hours of the recent legislative session.
"The legislation wasn't passed at our last board meeting, so our board didn't have a chance to consider it then -- and they don't have a July meeting scheduled," Jackson said.
"This Houston trip had been planned for a year, and it's really the only chance that our board will have to consider the fee in time for the fall semester," Jackson said.
Southern isn't the only college system moving swiftly to take advantage of the new fee.
The LSU Board of Supervisors is slated to consider an academic excellence fee Friday in Baton Rouge that will boost the cost of attending LSU by $120 a semester for full-time students.
LSU System Vice President Bill Silvia said LSU's Baton Rouge campus is one of several LSU campuses that want to take advantage of the new academic-enhancement fee this fall.
Late last month, the governing board of the University of Louisiana System authorized all eight of its universities to start charging full-time students a new $120-per-semester academic excellence fee in August.
The proposed new fee, approved in the waning hours of the recent legislative session, will not be covered by the state-funded Tuition Opportunity Program for Students.
On Wednesday, the board that oversees the state's community and technical colleges authorized its two-year schools to impose an academic excellence fee of up to $78 per semester for full-time students beginning this fall.
The chancellor of Baton Rouge Community College said she doesn't plan to implement the proposed fee this fall, which would have cost full-time students up to $84 a semester.
"We're going to try and hold off for a while," said Chancellor Myrtle Dorsey said.
South Louisiana Community College Chancellor Jan Campbell Brobst said she intends to implement the full $7-an-hour academic excellence fee -- up to a maximum of $84 for full-time students taking 12 hours or more -- at her school's campuses in Lafayette, New Iberia and Franklin.
River Parishes Community College Chancellor Joe Ben Welch also said he plans to impose a $5-per-hour fee at his Sorrento campus this fall.
Welch said his school likely will impose the remaining $2 academic excellence fee in the fall of 2004.
