Opinion ID: 1707448
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The student assessed feespublic funds?

Text: We also find that the student assessed fees are public funds. The First Circuit considered the status of student assessed fees in Carter v. Fench, 322 So.2d 305 (La.App. 1st Cir.1975), writ denied, 325 So.2d 277 (La.1976), and held that the fees become public funds when paid by the students to the university because imposed on the students in order to gain admission. The student fees collected for the Alumni Federation are similarly public funds. Thus, the recipients of those funds, whether they be governmental, public or private bodies, are subject to the Public Records Law insofar as their financial records are concerned. Carter v. Fench, 322 So.2d at 307. The fees, paid by registering students along with tuition, are mandatory in the sense that the students do not have the option of whether or not to pay the fee. It seems fair to say, therefore, that it was imposed by the University under its constitutional and statutory powers, albeit responsive to a self-assessment determination made by the student body, originally in 1962 and supplemented at least one other time (in 1969). Thus, the funds received by the Federation are public monies.