University retention rates lower in the past years

Liberto said that college costs are the most cited factors for voluntarily discontinuing one’s education at Loyola because families sometimes believe they can pay the tuition bills and later realize they cannot.

“If a family is struggling and they think they can get it done, and they decide that maybe in six months, economically, ‘we can’t get it done,’ then they’re going to go for a ‘safer option’, a much less expensive op- tion,” Liberto said.

For Clust, that safer option was LSU.

“I chose LSU because it was cheaper, convenient, and the school’s actually pretty good,” he said.

Dwayne Fontenette can be reached at dafonten@loyno.edu