Louisiana’s higher education commissioner is asking for an increase in next year’s state budget to fully fund TOPS scholarships and increase grants, although it’s more likely universities, community colleges and students will be cut to the bone again as the threat of campus closures looms.
As the USA Today Network of Louisiana reports, Joe Rallo, the state commissioner of higher education, and leaders for each of the state’s higher education systems testified today during budget hearings conducted by the House Appropriations Committee.
LSU President F. King Alexander said the state’s flagship university is in “dire straits” and losing some of its highest performing faculty and students to other institutions.
“We’ve become a poaching ground,” Alexander said. “All we’re asking for is a little help.”
State funding for higher education has dropped from $1.5 billion in 2008 to $852 million in the current fiscal year.
State Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, wanted to know what higher education leaders have done to become more efficient, asking about potential campus closures and whether or not the Board of Regents should even exist.
Alexander said the closure of LSU-Shreveport and LSU-Eunice would only save $9 million, “but it would displace 10,000 students with no place to go.”
