The reduction of funding, preparatory budget exercises and solutions on how to improve the state’s higher education institutions have dominated the agendas of both the Louisiana Board of Regents and the LSU Board of Supervisors this semester.
The most recent budget discussion was held Wednesday between four higher education system presidents and the Regents as they proposed solutions for an expected $437 million cut in funding for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
“This meeting allowed the leaders of Louisiana’s higher education community to put some potential budget solutions on the table for consideration and discussion,” Regents Chairman Artis Terrell said in a news release.
The proposed measures included reducing state-funded pass-through funding by 21 percent, charging tuition per credit hours, allowing tuition to reach “market price” within six years and establishing a temporary stabilization surcharge.
If the suggested solutions were to be implemented, LSU System President John Lombardi said the funding cut would shrink from $437 million to $136 million.
The projected cut in higher education funding has been a topic of interest all semester.
“We haven’t said anything yet, folks,” said Supervisors Board Member Ronald Anderson Nov. 6, following the approval of an overall $21.2 million budget reduction to the LSU System, $5.1 million at the Baton Rouge campus alone.
The midyear cuts resulted from a shortfall in predicted state revenues. The University’s portion of the cut increased from $2.2 million to $5.1 million on Oct. 18 in an effort to save the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the LSU AgCenter, two non-teaching institutions of the LSU System.
The University’s decision to take the hit for the two non-teaching institutions stirred controversy among the student leaders. Fourteen University students spoke at the Supervisors meeting Nov. 6 to combat the action but failed to convince the Board.
Conversations about the status of higher education occurred downtown that same week, as the Regents approved the final stages of the LA GRAD Act, a comprehensive improvement plan designed to increase performance, efficiency and accountability for higher education institutions statewide starting this year.
“There is a push nationally to increase attainment and find better ways to measure complete student flow,” said Tom Layzell, part-time Regents adviser. “This is a well thought-out piece of legislation that will help move Louisiana in the direction it needs to move.”
The higher education boards also approved physical improvements to the University’s campus through the passage of funding for the renovation of Kirby Smith Hall and several other capital outlay projects.
The University also saw improvements at the program-level, as the Regents reinstated comparative literature and women and gender studies degree programs on Aug. 25. The concentrations were originally cut along with more than 20 other programs in Louisiana in January.
The University now offers women’s and gender studies as an undergraduate degree only, while comparative literature will only be offered as a doctorate program. Comparative literature originally had a master’s and doctorate program, but the master’s program will not return.
In other actions, the Regents hired a search firm in September to help conduct the search for a new Commissioner of Higher Education. The Regents have operated without a permanent or interim commissioner since the resignation of Sally Clausen last summer.
Some members questioned the price of the firm, which was about $105,000, but the majority argued the Regents didn’t have the resources for a proper search.
The search is currently underway, but a new commissioner should be selected within the next few months.
 
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]