LSUE facing possible $800,000 budget cuts

EUNICE – More than a dozen staff positions and program and course section cuts totaling nearly $800,000 could be coming to LSUE if the state does not find a way to plug an estimated $750 million budget shortfall.
LSUE Chancellor Kimberly Russell said, “Spring enrollment has increased just over 5 percent as compared to the spring of 2015, and applications for the fall of 2016 are up 50 percent when compared to January of 2015. A 32 percent cut over the next four months would curtail our progress and further place an already insecure university in significant financial distress.”
Russell said, “Overall, LSUE could not withstand a 32 percent cut in state appropriations. It would devastate the university’s ability to recruit and retain students, faculty and staff. While we are working diligently to create business and industry partnerships, to cultivate friends and donors to the university and to seek alternate revenue sources, we cannot overcome the sudden shortfall mid-year. The people of south Louisiana deserve to have access to a high quality, high value post-secondary education.”
Late last week, the governor’s office announced $131 million in cuts could be made to the state’s higher education system, and $65 million of that would be trimmed from the LSU System statewide.
Monday afternoon, Russell provided LSU a worst case scenario plan if the cuts become reality and the campus is forced to trim spending almost $800,000 in four months.
“The potential reduction of $797,151 for the 2015-16 academic year would be devastating for LSU Eunice,” Russell said.
The head of the campus began her outline with the school’s figures on employment and enrollment. Currently the campus employs 68 full-time faculty, 84 staff and just over 50 adjunct instructors, and the total student body is 2,500.
“LSUE is comprised of a rural student population and is located in an underserved region of the state,” Russell said. “LSUE provides ‘access and opportunity’ to the state’s flagship university since over 50 percent — the highest transfer rate of all two-year institutions in Louisiana — transfer to complete baccalaureate degrees at four-year institutions.”
Russell said tuition and fee increases would not begin to cover the shortfall since LSUE has one of the lowest rates in the state. The chancellor estimated it would take 232 new students enrolled in at least 12 hours this semester to generate the needed revenue to stave off the possible cuts.
“LSUE’s current financial position is unstable at best,” she said. “The university generates about $7.5 million in tuition and fees and receives about $4.8 million from state appropriations which together totals $12.3 million. Personnel costs exceed $10.2 million and represent 84 percent of the university’s total expenses. LSUE would deplete any remaining reserves and implement a series of reductions and furloughs of employees.”
Russell said LSUE would lose 14 professional and faculty positions and replace those faculty members with adjunct instructors. LSUE would also furlough nine classified staff positions. Course sections would be shifted to remaining faculty as overload sections, the plan stated.
Sen. Eric LaFleur of Ville Platte pointed to issues in the Jindal administration as the cause for the current state of Louisiana’s budget and the possible higher education budget cuts.
“The Jindal legacy of mismanagement of Louisiana’s fiscal affairs will take some time to fix,” LaFleur said in an email. “We’ve made little or no investment in the state’s infrastructure and saw Louisiana’s colleges and technical or vocational schools endure the largest cuts of state support in the United States and at the same time saw the largest increase in fees and tuition, a 99 percent increase since 2008.
“Parents of students attending college or technical schools are paying more than ever before or you find students graduating with more and more debt. Moreover, the classes available have been reduced and training programs are fewer.”