Students will see an increase in fees, the elimination of several scholarship programs, larger class sizes and elimination of student jobs if the University’s state support is cut by the proposed nearly $50 million, according to the University’s 2009-10 budget released Thursday afternoon. Submitted to the LSU System for review, the budget is the first draft of what will eventually be presented to the House Appropriations Committee on April 21. Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed state spending budget has higher education taking a $219 million reduction for the fiscal year beginning July 1, on top of the now permanent $55 million mid-year cut, to help make up for slacking state revenue. If the legislature, whose session begins April 27, approves Jindal’s budget, the University will have to cut about $50 million from its budget — a reduction that would set the University back decades, said Chancellor Michael Martin.”A budget like this breaks a covenant between the state of Louisiana and students who have worked hard to get here,” Martin said. Layoffs and elimination of vacant faculty and staff positions at the University would total nearly 400, according to the budget draft. The Bengal Legacy Scholarships for Non-Resident Sons and Daughters of LSU Graduates, the Board of Supervisors scholarships and the Louisiana Freshman Merit Award would be eliminated. A 2 percent increase in auxiliary enterprise surcharges will cause student fees for Residential Housing, the Student Health Center, Student Union and the Office Parking, Traffic & Transportation to increase. “This won’t be minor,” Martin said. “Anyone who has been in higher education as long as me will know that contrary to what people might say, there is no fat [to cut] at LSU.” A cut of about $7 million to “non-academic units” — like the University’s payroll office, admissions office and custodial employees, for example — would result in 110 layoffs, according to the document. “Services across the campus will be reduced,” the document states. “It may take longer for a student to be admitted, receive financial aid, register for classes, for vendors to be paid, repairs to be made and buildings to be cleaned.”A cut of about $10 million to academic units on campus would result in 80 layoffs, from elimination of certain vacant positions, support funds and non-faculty filled positions. The possibility of furloughs wasn’t included in the document but will be discussed as an option for avoiding long-term damage to the University, Martin said. “We will do all we can to minimize these and other adverse consequences of this investment in the University,” Martin said in a broadcast e-mail sent Thursday afternoon. “Everyone should stand up and be counted as our future is shaped over the next four months.”—-Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]