Neither Baton Rouge Community College nor Capital Area Technical College did a very good job reporting student performance data the state’s top higher education board uses to determine whether schools can raise tuition, according to a legislative audit report released Monday.
The report, which looked at data from last year, says 11 out of 16 schools in the Louisiana Community and Technical College System submitted student information to the Louisiana Board of Regents that was “not sufficiently reliable” — a conclusion LCTCS President Joe May acknowledged on Monday.
The Regents use the data submitted to verify whether schools meet the performance standards spelled out in the in the 2010 LA GRAD Act.
The GRAD Act is made up of 52 different benchmarks based predominantly on student success including improved graduation and retention rates. The law allows colleges to increase tuition by up to 10 percent a year, if they meet those performance goals. Additionally, the state’s performance-based funding formula ties 15 percent of overall state funding for each college on meeting the GRAD Act goals.
