After yet another year of fiscal and midyear budget cuts, the University could be dealt another budgetary blow by the Louisiana legislature over the next two months.
At the beginning of the 2012 fiscal year, the University faced a relatively smaller cut of about $2 million.
To compensate for the cut, the University defunded a number of scholarships from the School of Music and made some compromises to the operating budget.
Students also saw tuition increases of about $300 for Louisiana residents and roughly $1,500 for non-residents thanks to the LA GRAD Act.
To compensate for the cut, the University asked the LSU System to allocate nearly $8 million for the main campus.
“We have to get to a world where it’s not a question of being cut, it’s a question of how much money we get,” Jack Hamilton, executive vice chancellor and provost, told The Daily Reveille on Aug. 22.
The University later faced an $8.1 million midyear cut for the third time since January 2009.
Robert Kuhn, associate vice chancellor of Budget and Planning, told The Daily Reveille on January 16 that midyear cuts are approached with temporary measures that may be different if the cut becomes permanent. The cuts, which were recently annualized, may cause the University to change some policies.
“A budget is a commitment of resources,” Kuhn said. “When you have a midyear cut, you’re breaking or violating this commitment.”
The storm seemed to subside when Gov. Bobby Jindal’s 2013 fiscal year budget was revealed in February. The governor expressed desire to leave higher education unscathed.
But recent debates in the Louisiana House of Representatives revealed that some legislators want to work a $50 million cut into the House appropriations bills.
By the end of the legislative session, the future of the University’s budget and the potential of more woes for University students and programs will be more clear.
 
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Contact Brian Sibille at [email protected]