Final grades like a C, two Ds, two Fs and one incomplete aren’t marks many students brag about to their parents when they go home for the holidays.But according to Measuring Up 2008, the National Report Card on Higher Education published by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, those are the grades Louisiana received in its biennial report card — grades administrators said bear little relevancy to the University.”I think we all want to be a little careful about those kinds of things,” said Chancellor Michael Martin. “[For instance], I’m very happy that we’re a top-tier university … It’s a wonderful accomplishment, but we ought not get too serious about it.”Mike Gargano, LSU System vice president for Student and Academic Support Services, said the components the report attempts to measure cannot be accurately compared unless they are broken down.”The general consensus here with this report is that it’s basically an ineffective reporting mechanism,” Gargano said. “It’s impossible to measure the performance of one state to the next.”The report grades all levels of education in each state based on preparation, participation, affordability, completion, benefits and learning.The highest grade Louisiana received is a C in completion. Louisiana traditionally performs well in the completion category and typically awards certifications and degrees relative to the amount of students enrolled, according to the report. But it noted few students complete college in a timely manner.Louisiana received its lowest grades, two Fs, in participation and affordability.Poor and working-class families in Louisiana must devote 14 percent of their income to fund an education at public, four-year colleges in the state, according to the report.”Our tuition is $1,700 and that is less than most tuitions students would pay at a community college,” Gargano said. “Let’s look at the LSU A&M Campus — 93 percent of the students at LSU receive the TOPS award. How can there be an issue with affordability if you look strictly at tuition?”Gargano said the report fails to recognize the “success” of the LSU System and the nearly 33 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 49 percent of higher-level degrees the System awards.”There’s just a lot of false premises that have been built up in this report to attempt to say that higher education in the United States is failing when that does not bear any truth,” Gargano said.Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen said the Board should work in conjunction with the Governor and the boards of elementary and secondary education to “use these grades as a guide for positive change,” according to Meg Casper, Louisiana Board of Regents spokeswoman.”This is certainly not the kind of report card that you want to bring home to your mother,” Clausen said in a statement. “Now is the time to redouble our efforts with our K-12 partners as we focus on strengthening educational attainment and workforce development across Louisiana.”—–Contact Lindsay Meaux at [email protected].