The following story from the BusinessReport is an interview with the new LSU Law School chancellor. He is asked questions regarding tuition, per what is reprinted below. From what I can read tuition is being hiked significantly in order to pay for scholarships. Has there been any reaction to this at the Capital, seeing that probably 20% of the legislators are alum of the law school?
Most schools that want to give out more scholarships dip from the endowment. It is very odd to see a school increase tuition in order to give more scholarships. You usually give more scholarships because tuition is too expensive.
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Q: You want to raise tuition significantly as well.
We are in the process now of seeking a tuition increase that will pay for additional scholarships. It’s a tuition increase that will be phased in over a period of time. It won’t affect any of the students that are here now. It’ll be in $1,000 increments. So the class coming in fall ’08, next year, if the Legislature and Board of Supervisors approve our tuition increase proposal, would have a $1,000 increase, from $10,700 to $11,700. They would keep that $11,7000 throughout their three years of law school. Then the class coming in the fall of ’09 would have a $2,000 increase, from $10,7000 to $12,7000, and that would carry them through their three years of law school, and then the class coming in the fall of 2010 would have a $3,000 increase. So it would be fully implemented really only in the 2010-2011 academic year. That’s the plan.
Q: What will you do with the extra money?
The tuition increase will be largely used for scholarships. The quality of one’s student body bears directly not only on everything that is going on inside these walls every day, it also is an important component of our U.S. News ranking. That in turn affects our ability to attract top faculty members. That in turn affects our ability to attract top students. Students and faculty. That’s really what we’re about.
http://www.businessreport.com/news/2008/may/05/legal-maneuvering-edn1/