VIDALIA, La. – The Louisiana Legislature’s vote to establish a four-year university in Alexandria should not hurt enrollment at Miss-Lou colleges and universities, education officials said Wednesday.

Gov. Mike Foster is expected to sign the bill to expand Louisiana State University – Alexandria from a two-year institution to a four-year university. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives Tuesday.

Ronnie Nettles, dean of the Natchez campus of Copiah-Lincoln Community College, said expanding LSU-A will not create any competition that did not exist before.

&uot;I don’t see it affecting us from a competition standpoint, because they were already offering two-year programs, which is what we offer,&uot;&160;Nettles said.

Nettles said only 10 percent of that campus’ 750 students hail from out of state.

That is down from 14 percent in the mid-1990s, when out-of-state tuition rose significantly, Nettles said. As it now stands, in-state Co-Lin students pay $600 a semester versus $1,400 for out-of-state students.

&uot;The biggest impact (on Co-Lin’s Louisiana enrollment) has actually been our tuition,&uot; Nettles said.

Dr. Clinton Bristow – president of Alcorn State University, whose Natchez facilities include schools of business and nursing – said that school’s tuition is about $2,000 higher for out-of-state students than in-state students.

Both Bristow and Nettles said their schools have low Louisiana enrollments but are still better values for students in neighboring parishes since they are closer, eliminating the cost of a commute.

&uot;When a students takes into account the cost of gasoline, dollar-wise it could be less expensive to go here,&uot;&160;Bristow said, referring to Alcorn’s Natchez campus.

Ray King, director of the Shelby M. Jackson Campus of Louisiana Technical College in Ferriday, observed that LSU-A would not be any closer to Concordia Parish than LSU in Baton Rouge or the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Both he and Nettles said having another four-year university in the region will probably be a good thing because it will give students more options for continuing their education.

&uot;But we don’t serve the same (students),&uot; King said. &uot;Our mission is to serve business and industry as a place to develop the workforce, and we do that through vocational-technical training.&uot;

That is also LSU’s mission, &uot;but they do it through academic courses,&uot; King said.

Currently, students at the vocational-technical school King runs cannot transfer their class credits to a four-year university.

&uot;But that’s one of the goals of our Board of Regents,&uot;&160;King said.