Tuition increases Geaux away? Evidence from voting on Louisiana’s amendment 2

ABSTRACT

In many states, public institutions of higher education have the autonomy to raise tuition. This has not been the case in Louisiana since a 1995 constitutional amendment required a two-thirds majority of the state legislature for any tuition increase. In November of 2016, voters in Louisiana rejected Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that would have given state institutions of higher education autonomy in setting tuition. We examine parish-level voting on Amendment 2 using an empirical political economy model and find that parishes with a greater percentage of African-Americans and university employees were more likely to vote yes. Student enrolment at public institutions seemingly did not play a role in Amendment 2 losing.

KEYWORDS:

• Amendment 2
• tuition increases

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• H70
• I20

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.