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UL Lafayette has a student retention problem. 

More than a quarter of freshmen do not return for their sophomore year, according to the university’s own academic strategic plan. The cost of going to UL may be to blame, at least partially. 

The main perpetrator of rising costs isn’t tuition or housing, but miscellaneous fees that read like they were pulled from a bowl of higher education alphabet soup. And while UL’s board of supervisors has vowed to make every effort to improve retention, those fees have continued to increase.

Taken together, the 14 fees assessed locally by the university and approved by the University of Louisiana’s System Board of Supervisors, plus those assessed by student government, are higher than tuition for most full-time students. 

Ending the inventory tax is back on the ballot, this time as its own amendment.

In 2025, the inventory tax proposal was packaged with several other measures in a tax reform amendment. Lafayette’s political leadership continues to support the proposition ahead of Saturday’s election. 

“For far too long, Louisiana businesses have paid an outdated inventory tax, one that penalizes what they hold, not what they earn. It’s outdated, it’s burdensome, and it makes us less competitive,” M-P Monique Boulet said at her 2026 State of the Parish address.

Louisiana’s inventory tax has been a thorn in the side of the state’s lawmakers and governors for decades — one they’ve so far struggled to pluck out.

This Saturday, Lafayette residents will have an opportunity to vote on several local and statewide matters, from local library funding to inventory tax and the age limit for state judges.

Even with the confusion about the congressional election, which has been halted as the state moves to draw new maps following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, there’s still a consequential federal race on the ballot: a tight race for one of two positions representing Louisiana in the U.S. Senate. 

Senator Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is running to defend his seat against Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Monroe and State Treasurer John Fleming in a closed party primary. Recent polling from Emerson College shows Cassidy behind both in third, which would eliminate him before the June run-off.