Nicholls laid out six-year goals as part of the LA GRAD Act contract that details how colleges plan to improve in the future.Progress toward these goals must be submitted annually for the University to retain the ability to increase tuition 10 percent each year, which began this fall.

Larry Howell, special assistant to the president, said that the LA GRAD Act allows the University to raise tuition, but it also allows some funds to roll over from one year to the next and allows the University to purchase things differently.

“It’s something that all institutions in the state will have to work on because Louisiana has some of the lowest graduation rates in the country,” Howell said.

Howell said that Nicholls has been improving significantly since 2004. He said that the government bodies are reacting poorly to graduation rates because they are looking at data from freshmen who started college eight years ago.

“The graduation rate of 26.6 percent is two years behind,” Howell said. “Those students started in 2002 when the University was still open admissions.”

Howell said that now, with improvement to the admissions standards, the University can realistically improve the graduation rate to 38 percent, one of the greatest projected increases in the state.

“The goal that the legislature keeps throwing out there is 50 percent,” Howell said. “When we look at the graduation rates of the 50 schools most like Nicholls in the nation, there are only two that have graduation rates over 50 percent. The average is 38 percent.”

Hulbert, University president, said that these goals might be unrealistic for a university like Nicholls. He said that Nicholls will definitely meet the average of its peers, but whether or not it can reach the average that the legislature has suggested is uncertain.

“Many students are commuting long distances, have family obligations or work multiple jobs,” Hulbert said. “They can’t move through the University as quickly as other students and because it takes longer, the graduation rate is affected.”

Hulbert said that the government is not crediting the University for what it is doing now.

“The University was a completely different place then, but that’s politics, and that’s politicians,” Hulbert said. “It’s not based on the reality of who our students are.”

Howell said that students graduating from associate degrees also affect the average.

“The average associate degree graduate takes longer in school than a four year graduate takes, so it brings down the average,” Howell said.

Hulbert said that hurricanes and natural disasters can significantly affect the graduation rates as well. For example, in 2005 the University lost 600 students after hurricane Katrina, so if the students do not return to school, the graduation rate is affected accordingly.

Nicholls has already accomplished some of the goals the LA GRAD Act has set for colleges.

Howell said that next year, the other system schools will change their admissions standards to the ones that Nicholls implemented this past Fall. By 2014, universities will not be allowed to admit students who require developmental courses. Nicholls has already begun to implement this by having students take their developmental courses at Fletcher.

“So, it’s not what we’re going to do,” Hulbert said. “It’s what we’ve already done.”

Hulbert said that the University has been aggressively recruiting better students.

“Everything we’re doing is trying to attract and retain students,” Hulbert said.

He said that the projects like the renovations to the residence halls, the remodeled cafeteria and Student Union and the future rec center are all geared towards the retention of students.

“Personally, I think we’ll be above 40 percent by the time this thing comes to an end,” Howell said.