Bill That Allows State Colleges To Raise Student Fees Passes In House

A bill that would give Louisiana's colleges and universities more say so in the cost of student fees is moving on the Louisiana Senate. The House yesterday passed legislation presented by Hammond Representative Chris Broadwater that would allow individual institutions autonomy in deciding what student fees would be charged and how much those fees would be.

One of the concerns about this legislation was the affect it might have on Louisiana's TOPS program. Broadwater assured other members of the House that TOPS was not to be affected at all by this legislation.

Broadwater explained to critics of this measure that the possibility of an increase in student fees would offset what he considered to be a bigger and more ominous problem.

If we don't do a better job with our state support of higher education, we're going to have an access to education problem because the schools will close and they won't have a school to go to.  That's a worse access to education problem than we'll have under this.

Broadwater's comments were reported by the Louisiana Radio Network. His legislation was passed by a 79-14 vote in the House. It will now move into the Senate chambers for further debate and discussion.