Dive Brief:

• Three Southern University schools in Louisiana have been barred from raising tuition this fall because of their failure to meet student success goals set by the state.
• The schools — Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Southern University Law Center, and Southern University at Shreveport — will also lose 15% of their state funding for failing to meet the goals.
• The law school unsuccessfully appealed to the Louisiana Board of Regents on Wednesday to be granted the ability to increase tuition. One regent, quoted by the Advocate in Baton Rouge, said that providing a reprieve would be unfair to the schools that are meeting the standards.

Dive Insight:

This news comes at a bad time for the Southern University system, which has been depleting its reserves to continue operating. The three schools are the only ones in the state to be punished this year under a state law, passed in 2010, that measures student success at state universities and community colleges based on graduation rates, retention rates, and other factors. Last year, all of the universities and colleges passed muster.

Schools that meet the standards in the state's Granting Resources and Autonomy for Resources for Diplomas Act are allowed to raise their tuition by up to 10%. Law Center Chancellor Freddie Pitcher Jr. said the school is being penalized for its mission of providing opportunities to underprivileged students. Pitcher said the “Achilles heel” for the law school was its students' bar exam stats — 42% passed on their first try in 2013, down from 56% in 2012, compared to 88% and 78% for 2012 and 2013, respectively, for the Louisiana State University Law Center.