New Orleans: Loyola students drop banner on campus against rising tuition
New Orleans, LA– On April 29, students at Loyola University New Orleans dropped a banner from the third floor of the school's Mass Communications building. The banner read “Loyola won’t listen, they’re raising our tuition: Affordable education for all.”
Last semester, in fall 2024, Loyola’s new Vice President of Enrollment Anthony Jones presented his plan to improve enrollment numbers while making the university more prestigious. The plan includes raising tuition by 4.5% while lowering financial aid by 3%. The rise in tuition is accompanied by a myriad of new miscellaneous fees students will have to pay to their individual colleges as well as the Residential Life office if they live on campus.
The banner drop action came a week after over 25 students marched to the Loyola president's office and hand-delivered several copies of a demands letter calling for a stop to tuition hikes, pay raises for faculty, support for multicultural organizations, sanctuary campus policies, and a meeting with students about these demands. Students were able to secure two meetings with university administrators.
However, these meetings ended with little to no tangible concessions from the administration. With the banner-drop, students are making it clear that they are fed up with tuition hikes and they will not bow down to Trump’s attacks on education.