While students were away for the summer, the Board of Regents made several decisions affecting higher education.

Despite large cuts to health care across the state, the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport will receive a $2.2 million upgrade to patient rooms as a part of Act 959.

The Board of Regents approved the measure at its June meeting, along with several other measures that will begin to take shape as students make their way back to Baton Rouge.

Another construction project includes renovating concession stands in the PMAC, which requires approximately $200,000 in capital outlay funds.

In addition, the board approved several small renovation projects at its May meeting. Those renovations include re-approving HVAC Remediation in Hill Memorial Library — a $350,000 cleaning technique used to remove pollution or contaminants — as well as renovating classrooms in Nicholson Hall and replacing pool filters in the Natatorium.

But construction is not the only tangible result from this summer’s meetings. The board also approved a measure that will add a Master of Science in Construction Management to the College of Engineering’s curriculum.

The board’s decisions concerning the LA GRAD Act will also affect the future of state universities.

During its annual review of each school, the Board of Regents gave the LSU campus a green designation on its targets for the LA GRAD Act. The most important of those targets is student success. By passing the LA GRAD Act, the University is able to increase in-state tuition by 10 percent.

However, LSU-Eunice failed to pass three of five success standards — first-to-second year retention rate, same-institution graduation rate and graduation rate. It was the only institution to receive a red designation. Due to its failure, $767,955 of LSU-E’s funding formula allocation will be retained by the LSU system, according to a news release.