Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave Louisiana State University welcome news last week when he announced he would not be including any additional cuts to higher education in Louisiana’s fiscal budget this year.
 
LSU is currently facing a $50 million budgetary gap and has already sustained $43 million in cuts over the past two years.

The governor's budget will have to be considered by the state legislature, which may make changes, Chancellor Michael Martin said in an interview with LSU student newspaper The Daily Reveille.
 
Last year, Jindal proposed cutting $219 million in education funding, and the legislature greatly reduced the cuts in the final state budget, according to the Daily Reveille article.

Even if the Louisiana legislature approves a budget that does not further cut higher education, LSU's financial difficulties are far from resolved as the school seeks ways to reduce its spending and gain additional revenue to eliminate its current budget gap.

Martin said he would like the state legislature to give LSU administrators permission to raise tuition and fees so the school would be able to raise $12 to $15 million to offset the $50 million budget gap.

The legislature must approve any proposed increase in fees or tuition by a two-thirds majority.
 
In addition to raising fees and tuition, Martin said the University is aiming to make $12 to $15 million in cuts to academic and non-academic programs.

“If the hole doesn’t get any deeper and the governor and legislature would support us filling some of that in, that would be about as good an outcome as we could see realistically,” Martin said.
 
The chancellor has been working in collaboration with the faculty and staff senate, student government leaders, deans and administrators to determine areas where funding can be cut.


More from the Daily Reveille at LSU