Incoming students wave good-bye to out of state fees

By: Shannon Hauler

In an attempt to attract more students to the schools in the University of Louisiana system, the Board of Regents has decided to waive the out-of-state fees for incoming non-resident students beginning this semester.

The four-year universities in Louisiana are losing students for two reasons Courtney Cassard, assistant director of admissions, said. One is that more students are attending community colleges and the other is that many attend out-of-state schools. Because of this, Louisiana universities look elsewhere for prospective students.

“In order to recruit the best out-of-state students, we need an incentive to offer them” Cassard said.

Noel-Levitz, a higher education consultant firm hired to address the declining enrollment issue, made the suggestion to waive out-of-state fees.

“Without these incentives (the students) are likely to stay where they are,” Cassard said.

Prospective students must meet certain criteria established by the University of Louisiana System to receive the waiver and maintain satisfactory progress to keep it. Incoming freshmen must score at least a 21 on the ACT, have a cumulative high school GPA of 2.25 or higher, not have to enroll in developmental classes and have completed less than twelve credits of college work. Transfer students must have a cumulative college GPA of 2.5 or higher, not have any need for developmental courses and have completed a minimum of twelve credits of class work.

Students are not required to file extra paperwork to qualify for the waiver.

The out-of-state fees, approximately $2700 a semester, will be waived for any student who meets these criteria.

Nicholls will not lose money in this situation because these incoming students must still pay the normal tuition rate, Cassard said. This waiver will also help the economy because the students live, eat and shop in the area surroundin their college.

“A study commissioned by Noel-Levitz found that 70 percent of people end up staying in the state where they graduated from college,” Cassard said.

The resolution went into effect Jan. 15, and within three days, Nicholls sent messages to more than 3,000 prospective students, Cassard said. Because many state universities across the country often charge per credit in addition to tuition, it will be cheaper for some students to attend Nicholls than a university in their home states.

Currently, about 2 percent of Nicholls students are from out-of-state, and the majority of these students are athletes. It was always difficult to recruit out-of-state students because there was no financial incentive, Cassard said. “We’ve always had out-of-state fee waivers available for students, but the criteria were higher. It’s a lot easier for students to qualify now,” Cassard said. “Now we’re actively recruiting out-of-state students.”

For out-of-state students who have family in this area, this opportunity makes it feasible for them to come to Nicholls, said Cassard. A program of this type has never before been considered “on such a widespread scale,” Cassard said.

Prospective students are encouraged to attend community colleges to take

developmental courses if necessary and then apply to Nicholls.

Cassard compares the fee waiver to the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students saying, “If they meet the criteria,

they get it.”