Higher education officials told state college leaders to prepare for more than 15 percent in cuts from their state funding next fiscal year, The Advocate reported Saturday.  Discussed during a private meeting at the Governor’s Mansion on Friday, the cuts would slash about $219 million from colleges in Louisiana. Nearly half of the cuts would apply to the LSU System.  Gov. Bobby Jindal will release his executive budget on March 13 for the 2009-2010 fiscal year beginning July 1. The exact amount of the cut won’t be known until then. The potential cut of 15 percent was calculated only after including about $219 million in anticipated federal “stimulus” money, Meg Casper, Louisiana Board of Regents spokeswoman, told the newspaper. She said the two numbers being the same is a coincidence.  Without the “stimulus” money, the cuts would have exceed the “worse-case scenario” level of 30 percent warned about in January, the newspaper reported.  The LSU System released a “budget reduction exercise” on Feb. 4, outlining how a worse-case scenario cut would affect the System.  According to the “exercise,” about 2,000 LSU employees would lose their jobs, class offerings would decrease and class sizes would significantly increase.  According to the University’s own “budget reduction exercise,” about 8,500 students would leave the University if cuts totaled 30 percent. Several scholarships would be eliminated and several academic programs would have to be restructured or completely eliminated as well. The national recession and declining state revenue are resulting in state-wide budget tightening. And the anticipated federal aid is only good for two years – meaning the budget cuts could be even worse in 2012.  Jindal, whose administration ordered a $55 million mid-year reduction for higher education, told colleges to prepare for possible cuts between $212 million and $382 million next fiscal year. ——Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]