Lanny Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 I just read this article about the State Budget in Louisiana. Very sad for LSU and for many other things funded by the state of LA. For students in LA and those considering applying to LSU, this is very bad news... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/13/louisiana-dem-gov-edwards-warns-agree-to-proposed-tax-hikes-or-lsu-football-could-be-sacked.html?intcmp=hpbt2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 I've heard little snippets for awhile about Louisiana's budget crisis, but I don't know enough to discuss it. So I went looking for more info and found this from May -- LSU's $85 million lazy river Perhaps not the best way for a university, especially a public one, to spend money. I don't find the comment that the money came from a "special student fee assessment" to be very compelling. As the parent of a college student I sure don't want to be assessed any fees for such a project. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Typed and erased a big rant. Let's just say that while I'm sorry for the students, it's past time for extravagant student amenities to be called out as unnecessary expenses. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 We get the big boo-hoo from UW all the time, but when you look at their assets and the $$$money$$$ the institution has socked away, and when you consider that all the expensive downtown property they can buy a) runs off people who can't bring that kind of money to the table and b) produces no tax revenue for the city, and then c) look at the fantastic athletic facilities for both the athletes and students, and then you hear about the $$$salaries$$$ paid to double-dippers (people who work 20 years, take a nearly full-pay retirement and then take *another* high-paying job at the U...it's hard to get too upset. Oh, I forgot to mention the annual tuition increases... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 I've heard little snippets for awhile about Louisiana's budget crisis, but I don't know enough to discuss it. So I went looking for more info and found this from May -- LSU's $85 million lazy river Perhaps not the best way for a university, especially a public one, to spend money. I don't find the comment that the money came from a "special student fee assessment" to be very compelling. As the parent of a college student I sure don't want to be assessed any fees for such a project. As I understand, the LSU students voted (probably several years ago when there was no budget problem) to pay fees, dedicated to fund that project and the funds are legally committed to that project, and can't be diverted. The students wanted that project to compete with "Tech" (Texas Tech University in Lubbock). I remember showing my DD a photo of the swimming pool at Tech, a couple of years ago, and telling her that probably the students with top grades only spend a few minutes in the pool, if any time at all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 (edited) I just read this article about the State Budget in Louisiana. Very sad for LSU and for many other things funded by the state of LA. For students in LA and those considering applying to LSU, this is very bad news... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/13/louisiana-dem-gov-edwards-warns-agree-to-proposed-tax-hikes-or-lsu-football-could-be-sacked.html?intcmp=hpbt2 I don't understand how this is bad news. Isn't this like, if you pay $25 you can have one pizza, $50 you get two? And you are like, "I have $50 but I want to pay $25." And then they are like, here's your one pizza. LA has some of the lowest cost of living in the US. Pay taxes or don't pay taxes but how are they supposed to pay for things without taxes? Is Jesus going to pay? Here's an idea--shocking, I know, I can provide personal counseling for anyone who can't get it: If everyone chips in and agrees to pay, you can provide public services. :svengo: What? Pay for public services??? What do those professors think they are, actual valuable contributions to society? Edit: and insofar as it refers to extracurriculars, deal with it, Louisiana. People don't want to pay. And I agree with Patty Joanna's points about the UW. $$$salaries$$$ paid to double-dippers (people who work 20 years, take a nearly full-pay retirement and then take *another* high-paying job at the U...it's hard to get too upset. Oh, and that is something that is a whole other ballgame. Seriously. Uh, you're going to hire a retiree at twice the salary with half the outputs as a younger person because that's a "consultant"?!?!? Because the state doesn't want to raise the pay scale and you literally cannot hire a young person on a 1985 salary, but you can pay "private consultants"? Yeah. Have fun with the long term consequences of that, America. Edited February 13, 2016 by Tsuga 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambam Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 When we started visiting in colleges in TX, I thought it was odd they always took you on a tour of their recreational facilities. And talked about them - a lot. And many were very recent additions to the campus. I got the impression they believed that for some those facilities possibly sway people in their direction. If you were going to spend more time talking about your recreational facilities than your academics, you are not the school for us. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 @Tsuga I think it would be incredibly sad, if they end this semester in April and all the students get "Incompletes" for their courses and their educational plans are extended for at least one additional semester and the viability of their university is in doubt. I suspect that LA like TX and ND and other producing states are seeing their tax revenue down severely, as we are here in Colombia. 20% of the budget for the national government here was from Petroleum and now with market prices way down, much less income coming into the state governments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 (edited) When we started visiting in colleges in TX, I thought it was odd they always took you on a tour of their recreational facilities. And talked about them - a lot. And many were very recent additions to the campus. I got the impression they believed that for some those facilities possibly sway people in their direction. If you were going to spend more time talking about your recreational facilities than your academics, you are not the school for us. This is like when people told us about the marble countertops in new homes. HI. We are researchers. We are not investment bankers. We are looking at ramblers in the south side of the city. We are not in this for marble, we just want a roof over our heads. Who ARE these people driving this? It's all the lying contractors (not that there can't be good contractors). They insist that it's what people want when most of us would be satisfied with much more modest things. But then they say those marble countertops drove up the price... meanwhile, the majority simply aren't buying houses because there is nothing in their price range. Same for college. It's all for the elite. And I say this as someone who's doing okay! The middle class is dying and with it, middle class purchasing power and the middle class market. Henry Ford and Roosevelt, where are you? Edited February 13, 2016 by Tsuga 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahlanne Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 More worrisome for us particularly was the governors complete and unexpected halt of all TOPS scholarship which allowed students that made a certain gpa throughout highschool to attend college with little to no fees. It was based on the gpa and ACT scores, the higher the more money. To keep the funding you had to keep your grades at a certain level or be put on probation or loose it entirely. For our daughter, she has only had to pay a small part of her college fees because she was a straight A student throughout highschool. Her ACT wasn't the highest being 25. It really is a great program and I understand if you need to reaccess the gpa minimum but to cut it completely without warning interrupting students payment for the spring session that already started, it is tough. Want to add that reports have said this has been lifted and spring payments for Tops will be honored but future is still uncertain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) The middle class is dying and with it, middle class purchasing power and the middle class market. Yes, I feel like we are witnessing this (eta in America) in our lifetime. Maybe not the entirety of middle class, but in my observation, the debt-free upper middle class is going the way of the cuckoo. Eta Haha, I meant to say dodo but somehow cuckoo seems for appropriate! Edited February 14, 2016 by Seasider 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) The only thing I find remarkable about this is that, in order for the severity of the situation to be driven home, the threat has to be to football. Apparently nobody cares that educational funding is cut - but heaven forbid, the football players won't be eligible to play next season. Among the worst-case scenarios, he said, is that college campuses would be forced to close in April, resulting in student-athletes receiving grades of “incomplete†on their report card, making them ineligible for the fall 2016 season."That means you can say farewell to college football next fall," Edwards said in the address. Yeah. The students who go to college to actually study and earn a degree don't matter. Their inability to graduate or stay on track with their studies is irrelevant. But playing ball, that is important. This country is nuts. Edited February 14, 2016 by regentrude 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 The only thing I find remarkable about this is that, in order for the severity of the situation to be driven home, the threat has to be to football. Apparently nobody cares that educational funding is cut - but heaven forbid, the football players won't be eligible to play next season. Yeah. The students who go to college to actually study and earn a degree don't matter. Their inability to graduate or stay on track with their studies is irrelevant. But playing ball, that is important. This country is nuts. I know LSU football fans and alumni. They will never let this happen. Lots of scare tactics, I believe, and for all the wrong reasons, as your post makes so clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamajag Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Louisiana is actually broke. It's not a drill. They are something like $1.5 billion short this year. They get most of their money from petroleum in one form or fashion. My sister was set to graduate in December from ULL. She needs ONE class next semester because the requirements changed and they refused to allow anyone to graduate under the old criteria. They are holding financial aid refund checks at ULL, too. They keep saying tomorrow or next week, but it is never released. As to the mention of football, that was political genius frankly. LSU football is a religion unto itself, and there's no way the governor or legislators could survive the political fallout from LSU having to forfeit the season. It's absolute genius for the LSU president to make this clear to the football fans. Yes, the priorities are wrong, but he's using those wrong priorities to try to protect LSU. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom23Boys Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) This topic is very hard to discuss without getting political, but there is no way they are going to close LSU. Not going to happen, even without the football threat. Some of the satellite universities may get shut down though, which I sincerely hope doesn't happen. Almost every single person I know in the Baton Rouge area considers this to be grandstanding, hoping to get people okay with tax increases without the state having to cut waste. From the most liberal to the most conservative, I've never seen such universal disgust for a governor (over this issue, not across the board). There are lots of other issues I could speak to, but that would get way to political. As far as our budget being dependent on oil and gas prices, it is. I want to say we need oil to be $65 per barrel to ideally funded.I just read our current budget is based on $48 per barrel of gasoline. It's nowhere near that now. Cuts and most likely tax increases are in our very near future due to the state of our budget. Eta:The way our constitution is written, healthcare and higher education are the only unprotected categories, so they get the first and most dramatic cuts because other areas need to be voted on. That is tragic in my opinion. I read something the other day that said LA has the most screwed up constitution, which I can easily believe. Also, please forgive typos and random commas. I'm typing on my Kindle for the first time. I tried to go back and catch them all, but I'm not sure if I did. Edited February 14, 2016 by Mom23Boys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyinLA Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) This topic is very hard to discuss without getting political, but there is no way they are going to close LSU. Not going to happen, even without the football threat. Some of the satellite universities may get shut down though, which I sincerely hope doesn't happen. Almost every single person I know in the Baton Rouge area considers this to be grandstanding, hoping to get people okay with tax increases without the state having to cut waste. From the most liberal to the most conservative, I've never seen such universal disgust for a governor (over this issue, not across the board). There are lots of other issues I could speak to, but that would get way to political. As far as our budget being dependent on oil and gas prices, it is. I want to say we need oil to be $65 per barrel to ideally funded.I just read our current budget is based on $48 per barrel of gasoline. It's nowhere near that now. Cuts and most likely tax increases are in our very near future due to the state of our budget. Eta:The way our constitution is written, healthcare and higher education are the only unprotected categories, so they get the first and most dramatic cuts because other areas need to be voted on. That is tragic in my opinion. I read something the other day that said LA has the most screwed up constitution, which I can easily believe. Also, please forgive typos and random commas. I'm typing on my Kindle for the first time. I tried to go back and catch them all, but I'm not sure if I did. You would be correct in your assumptions. It's a lot of talk. We have a pretty corrupt government here and the way they like to play it is to try and "hit the taxpayers where it hurts" to get their attention. They could cut plenty out of the budget by eliminating a lot of upper management positions in state offices (people who manage a SINGLE person) and garbage like that, but instead they want to get everyone all up in arms by threatening this so they can raise our taxes and still fund the unnecessary GARBAGE. Yeah, I'm a Louisiana lifer and yeah, it makes me angry. Edited February 15, 2016 by StaceyinLA 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom23Boys Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) You would be correct in your assumptions. It's a lot of talk. We have a pretty corrupt government here and the way they like to play it is to try and "hit the taxpayers where it hurts" to get their attention. They could cut plenty out of the budget by eliminating a lot of upper management positions in state offices (people who manage a SINGLE person) and garbage like that, but instead they want to get everyone all up in arms by threatening this so they can raise our taxes and still fund the unnecessary GARBAGE. Yeah, I'm a Louisiana lifer and yeah, it makes me angry. I've lived here my whole life, with the exception of one year in MS when I was 4/5. The amount of corruption and waste is infuriating. I'll most likely be here for the rest of my life though. Not only is DH's job here, but my whole family is as well. I have a huge extended family and almost everyone is local. Most in the same parish, lol. ETA: 19,000 consultants on the state payroll?!?! There is no way we need that many. Edited February 15, 2016 by Mom23Boys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 When we started visiting in colleges in TX, I thought it was odd they always took you on a tour of their recreational facilities. And talked about them - a lot. And many were very recent additions to the campus. I got the impression they believed that for some those facilities possibly sway people in their direction. If you were going to spend more time talking about your recreational facilities than your academics, you are not the school for us. The book "Club College" talks about this a lot. It talks about how many colleges have tried to improve their resort-like features because it draws students. One college we visited, this was very noticeable. I swear the tour guide used the word "fun" about a hundred times, but only spoke about the academic superiority of ONE unit/major in the school's vast system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 The only thing I find remarkable about this is that, in order for the severity of the situation to be driven home, the threat has to be to football. Apparently nobody cares that educational funding is cut - but heaven forbid, the football players won't be eligible to play next season. Yeah. The students who go to college to actually study and earn a degree don't matter. Their inability to graduate or stay on track with their studies is irrelevant. But playing ball, that is important. This country is nuts. Hear Hear! And yes, America is a looney bin of educational stupidity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Yes, but try telling that to the maniacs in Katy, TX who just approved a 61 million dollar football stadium for their HIGH SCHOOL. My sil and her dh are drooling over it, yet at the same time endlessly bitch about their property/school taxes increasing. :svengo: :svengo: :svengo: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Th football program makes money for the university. It funds the other sports that don't make money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Because "we will have to drop the math department" doesn't mean crap in a nation that could care less for the most part about education, but threaten to drop football, and the whole place loses its ever loving mind. Where again is my bungalow in Fiji???? I am in desperate need right now!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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