BATON ROUGE -- A four-year schedule for college tuition increases is one step away from final legislative approval after narrowly winning the two-thirds support necessary from the Senate on Wednesday.
The 27-8 vote -- one more "yea" vote than needed in the 39-member body -- sends House Bill 734 by Rep. Don Trahan, R-Lafayette, back to the House for final consideration of slight Senate changes. Both versions would allow governing boards to raise tuition each school year through 2011-12 within limited parameters.
The level of increase on a given campus would depend on how that school's tuition compares with comparable institutions among the 16 states that form the Southern Regional Education Board.
Schools where tuition is at least 90 percent of the regional average of similar institutions could adopt no more than a 3 percent increase in a year. Campuses with tuition ranging from 80 percent to 90 percent of the SREB average could impose 4 percent increases. Schools with tuition less than 80 percent of the regional figure could adopt a 5 percent increase.
