Let's examine the history of LSUS undergraduate enrollment vs. its tuition and fees. You will see historical information on LSUS undergraduate enrollment, total credit hour production, and (12-hour, undergraduate) tuition and fees.

Calculate annual elasticities for both types of quantity variables (i.e., you will have an elasticity of price vs. headcount, and one of price vs. credit hour). You will get an error message in your calculations when the tuition doesn't change (like in 2006-2007), since the elasticity calculation will be trying to divide by zero; just delete those error values in your Excel table so that the cells are blank. The first headcount elasticity will be calculated based on the 2003 and 2004 values of tuition and headcount and should be about 0.978; the first credit hour elasticity will also be based on the 2003 and 2004 values and should be about 0.074 (yes; they are both positive).

Calculate the average annual elasticity for headcount (from 2003-2021), and the average annual elasticity for credit hour (from 2003-2021).

Many administrators argue that, to increase revenue to LSUS to cover budget shortfalls, tuition should be raised. Comment on this suggestion, using the evidence you've uncovered.

Year undergrad enrollment total LSUS credit hour production undergrad tuition and fees 2003 3,655 101352 1442 2004 3,910 101868 1545 2005 3,940 100181 1621 2006 3,594 92486 1667 2007 3,556 92123 1667 2008 3,903 94639 1751 2009 4,220 101972 1867 2010 4,058 98137 2062 2011 4,134 98372 2247 2012 4,124 93163 2472 2013 3,674 85292 2803 2014 3,202 87907 3084 2015 2,775 91021 3355 2016 2,587 94077 3417 2017 2,638 115340 3417 2018 2,511 137467 3663 2019 2,577 165057 3663 2020 2,553 191712 3663 2021 2,477 173910 3663