University administrators are challenging some of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s criticisms of the state’s higher education officials.
Last week, Jindal addressed critics of his higher education policies via Facebook posts, e-mail blasts and a website launch.
“To Louisiana College Students: Our government is spending more than we can afford, and I believe our universities are delivering less value than you deserve,” Jindal said in a Facebook post last Tuesday.
In a second Facebook post, Jindal said Louisiana’s higher education system is underperforming.
“As of this May our six-year graduation rate was only 38 percent — far behind the 53 percent graduation rate for other states in the southern region,” the post said.
Chancellor Michael Martin says Jindal’s comments about higher education’s performance do not apply to the University.
“If you look at the total cost of LSU and the value we provide, it’s hard to argue we don’t give our students their money’s worth,” he said.
Martin said the University provides an education comparable to Ivy League institutions at a fraction of the price.
However, Martin said Jindal “might have a point” about higher education’s overall efficiency.
“I can’t speak for some of our sister institutions,” he said.
Martin said the University’s graduation rates, which hover around 60 percent, are better than the Louisiana average — if LSU were removed from the system, the state’s graduation rate would drop from 38 percent to 31 percent.
“We are pulling the rest of the state up,” he said.
Jindal’s posts have also downplayed the effects of recent budget cuts to the higher education system.
A Web page posted last Wednesday on the Division of Administration’s website prominently features several questions about higher education funding, responding to many criticisms levied against the administration.
The site says increased tuition has allowed universities to recoup the loss of state general funds.
In the post, Jindal said doom-and-gloom statements about higher education’s funding have been overstated.
“Even though it is common to hear that higher education has already received massive budget cuts, it’s not entirely accurate,” the post said.
“Higher education’s total budget has decreased by 4.57 percent since the beginning of 2008, while the state’s overall budget has decreased by almost 26 percent – nearly six times as much. LSU’s main campus, in fact, has seen a reduction of 1.5 percent in funding.”
These figures are different from — and less dire than — the numbers routinely cited by higher education officials, who look at state general funds, which are getting cut more severely than total budgets.
Additionally, Jindal’s administration argues that tuition increases allowed by policies like the LA GRAD Act should soften the blow caused by those funding cuts.
But Jason Droddy, director of external affairs, says that’s not the whole story.
Droddy says unfunded mandates — programs state government forces the University to pay without providing money — have eaten up most of those funds.
Those unfunded mandates include increased funding for retirement payments and risk management and total $16 million — more than enough to eat up the increased tuition.
“People say the University should be run like a business,” Droddy said. “Business doesn’t have the retirement assessments we have.”
The cuts for next fiscal year — which could be as high as 32 percent of state funding — would likely amount to a double-digit decrease in total funding.
Droddy said the reputation damage from the cuts might be as bad as the cuts themselves.
“We compete in a market. With a $64 million reduction, students won’t want to buy our product,” he said.
Martin said budget cuts are a serious threat to higher education regardless of the numbers.
“I’ve been in [higher education] since 1971,” Martin said. “From my experience we are taking some serious damage.”
Martin said he expected the governor would take a more active role in budget cuts after the next election cycle.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]