LSU System President John Lombardi presented his blueprint for dealing with higher education budget cuts to the Louisiana Postsecondary Education Review Commission on Monday and left members with a string of questions.
In a prepared address, Lombardi said college management boards like the LSU Board of Supervisors should have the authority to control tuition and fee increases for colleges, rather than leaving it to the Legislature exclusively.
The state is looking at a budget cut of about $150 million during the next fiscal year for its public colleges and universities, but Lombardi said many states are going through similar hardships and have found ways to cope.
“Every state that has faced these problems has found it necessary to shift more of the cost of higher education to students and their parents,” he said.
Lombardi’s suggested plan also includes an overhaul of the TOPS program.
The scholarship – which covers full tuition at the University using state dollars for students who meet ACT and GPA requirements – should be changed to a one-time merit award of $2,000.
The leftover money set aside for TOPS should be used along with Go-Grant funding to establish a stronger need-based financial aid program, Lombardi said.
“It is abundantly clear that TOPS is a program that supports many students who have no demonstrated financial need, and it inadequately supports other talented students with a high need,” Lombardi said.
According to data collected by the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance, 38 percent of TOPS recipients come from families with incomes of more than $100,000 per year.
“You have the money to pay it – pay it,” Lombardi told Commission member Tony Clayton, who is on the Board of Supervisors for the Southern University System.
Clayton told Lombardi he has spent upward of $200,000 putting his kids through private schools so they could have the best chance at earning the TOPS scholarship.
Lombardi argued these families can afford to spend more money on their children’s education all the way through college as well.
“We have to think differently about the TOPS program,” Lombardi said. “TOPS is not funding higher education — it’s funding individuals.”
Many argue the TOPS program keeps students in the state, but Lombardi said the high cost of out-of-state tuition and fees is enough to keep students in Louisiana.
Lombardi said raising tuition and fees and reconfiguring TOPS will allow the LSU System — especially LSU-Baton Rouge, the state’s flagship institution – to be nationally competitive.
Creating a $30 million flagship fund would also help the University, Lombardi said. Chancellor Michael Martin introduced the idea at a Faculty Senate-sponsored meeting recently, and it would charge students an extra $500 a semester to attend the University.
Lombardi said the fund would enable the University to perform at nationally competitive levels.
Student Government President Stuart Watkins and members of his executive staff attended the meeting.
“If [the flagship fee] is going to preserve the academic core of the University, I think it’s a sacrifice the students will have to make to preserve the quality of education at LSU,” Watkins said.
Lombardi compared academics at the University to its athletic program several times throughout his address. He said the University would be much better if Martin could run the school like the Tiger Athletic Foundation runs LSU Athletics.
All funding for LSU Athletics is private.
Commission member and former University chancellor James Wharton expressed his views about athletics and the University during the question-and-answer segment of his address.
“The fact of the matter is that [LSU athletics] is national entertainment,” he said.
But Wharton said solving the issue of funding and budget cuts is more complicated than just raising tuition.
“Saying the campus could change tuition to whatever it wants is misleading,” Wharton said.
The Commission is charged with evaluating higher education in the state and reporting back to the Legislature in the spring. Its report is due to the Board of Regents by Feb. 12.
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Contact Kyle Bove at kbove@lsureveille.com
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