Skipping past the time honored stupidity of the people running the great state of Louisiana assuming the oil money never runs low, the question I’ve got about LSU making contingency plans to file for financial exigency (academic bankruptcy) if state higher education funding doesn’t find a way out of the ditch it’s currently in, is what happens, if the school is forced to pull the trigger, on the sports front.
I mean, this sounds like some serious shit here:
Being in a state of financial exigency means a university’s funding situation is so difficult that the viability of the entire institution is threatened. The status makes it easier for public colleges to shut down programs and lay off tenured faculty, but it also tarnishes the school’s reputation, making it harder to recruit faculty and students.
“You’ll never get any more faculty,” said Alexander, if LSU pursues financial exigency.
The Louisiana Legislature is closing out its meetings this week without having made much progress in finding more funding for universities, colleges and others. Louisiana’s higher education community is facing an 82 percent funding cut if no extra state money is found.
The change would bring state funding for LSU from around $3,500 per undergraduate student to $660 per undergraduate student next year.
“States around the country spend more than that on their community colleges,” Alexander said.
If LSU ceases to operate in a way that gives it academic credibility, does the SEC do anything in response? I’m not joking – remember all the highfalutin’ talk we heard about schools being good academic matches for conferences during the last round of realignment musical chairs? If that has any meaning, what do you do about a school that’s going Third World, metaphorically speaking?
And what exactly does Les Miles sell to mamas on the recruiting trail in terms of academics? “We’ve got nicer facilities than the JUCOs your son is looking at”? Or does he just go all in and say, “screw it, we were never that serious about academics anyway”?
I’m not trying to be overly dramatic here. It’s just that it’s a very strange situation and I’m curious where things go if the shoulder shrugging never gets LSU out of the ditch.
I agree that politicians of all stripes have less than zero restraint in budgeting when tax revenues are flush. However colleges seem to think they’re exempt from the laws of economics, and they have an emotional hold on states. I’d be interested to how LSU spent its money during the flush times.
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Speaking of the laws of economics, the house education committee tried to allow a hike in tuition but that was shot down by the legislature, so that isn’t an option for LSU.
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Well. In a sense they are exempt from normal economics. They do not operate in market conditions like a business. They are non-profits and IMHO, a common good that deserves government support. Without an educated populace, things go downhill real fast.
You can mention for-profit colleges all you want, i you want to go there as an example, but they have done crap for educating students. They are predators leaving destruction in their wake with little to no success to account for except in the eyes of shareholders.
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If LSU/Louisiana operated like most state educational funding does, they spent whatever earmarked funds the legislature gave them on the things the funds were earmarked for. Then they went to their athletics crazy alumni and raised more money to fund the stuff the legislature wouldn’t. Then their faculty went out and wrote a billion grant proposals hoping to fund a billion in research.
Universities are not immune or exempt from anything, but they are especially sensitive to legislators who simply can’t understand why these sorts of institutions exists in the first place or how to measure their value.
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Looks like there aren’t any rich people in Louisiana who care enough about LSU to get some tax dollars thrown their way.
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Les Miles recruiting pitch will be, “No one at the NFL combine looks at the US News and World Report academic rankings. Besides, how many first rounders came from Harvard?”
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1) The other members of the SEC probably won’t do much but say, “there but for the grace of [x], go I” since all SEC schools are located in states run by irresponsible Republicans.
2) Athletic conferences have nothing to do with academics. That was disingenuous piffle from the administrative renteirs running that game.
3) It will be very interesting to see what happens if this is particularly prolonged and LSU’s football facilities get “lapped.” LSU has the money to pay for those, it’s just unseemly at the moment. What if that moment stretches and it starts to affect recruiting outcomes?
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The political stuff always gets out of hand on this blog, but I do have an honest, snark-free question for you. Can you give me a list of states run by responsible Democrats which are in demonstrably better financial condition?
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California and Illinois are the poster children for Democrat fiscal (ir)responsibility.
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California? Not so sure about that. They’ve not only balanced the budget. they’re replenishing the rainy day fund.
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Yeah, all that California fiscal nonsense has been over for a while. Still bad about state and local taxes there, though.
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9 of the 10 states with the highest per-person income voted Blue in the 2012 presidential race: Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia and Washington. The only Red state on the list: Alaska.
9 of the 10 states with the lowest median family income were Red: Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana and South Carolina.
9 of the 10 states with the lowest median household income were Red: Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oklahoma.
9 of the 10 states with the lowest per-person income levels were Red: Mississippi, Arkansas, Idaho, West Virginia, Kentucky, Utah, Alabama, South Carolina and Oklahoma.
8 of the 10 states with the lowest high school graduation rates were Red:
Texas, Mississippi, Kentucky Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, Tennessee.
Not sure that anyone would say that Mississippi or Louisiana is in better financial shape than Connecticut or Massachusetts.
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So, I assume you aren’t going to give me what I asked for? MNF’s original implication was that states run by “irresponsible Republicans” have state budgets that are in terrible fiscal shape. What I asked for was MNF’s long list of states run by Democrats with state budgets which are in demonstrably better fiscal shape. So far, he hasn’t given me that list, and neither have you.
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Great factoids to conflate population with operation.
Switch the populations of Vermont & Mississippi and Vermont becomes a football worshipping idiocracy and Mississippi the most literate and erudite state in the country.
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Take a look at demographics in all the states you cite. I think you will find the answers to the “why” questions there as opposed to the politics.
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It’s hard to find a state that exemplifies responsibility of any sort. Most politicians’ main goals seem to be only to gain and keep power and to gain and keep money. We could vote everyone out, but where would we get the candidates to replace them? The DNC and the GOP – from the politicians themselves.
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On balance, I agree with you. I’m sure someone will call me a liar for saying this (wouldn’t be the first time on this blog), but the purpose of my response to MNF above was not to carry Republican water – far, far from it, in fact. What struck me was his dig at “irresponsible Republicans” was (in my opinion) irresponsible. I say that because I don’t think the states run by the other party have their budgets in better order.
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I don’t think a government relying on an income source it has no control over as the basis for funding is a lefty/righty issue. It’s a pretty common failing on both ends of the political spectrum.
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I agree completely, but you said it better and much more succinctly than I did. I guess that’s why you have a popular blog, and I don’t. 🙂
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“What struck me was his dig at ‘irresponsible Republicans’ was (in my opinion) irresponsible.”
Now back to the destruction of education by responsible Republicans and one rogue Democrat::
“States could have reduced the size of spending cuts by enacting significant new revenues, but many chose not to”
http://www.cbpp.org/research/recent-deep-state-higher-education-cuts-may-harm-students-and-the-economy-for-years-to-come?fa=view&id=3927
“Republican governors in Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana and Wisconsin and Connecticut’s Democratic governor have proposed higher education cuts for the coming fiscal year. Higher education spending traditionally is a juicy target for budget cutters because schools can make up the lost revenue by raising tuition.”
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2015/3/27/to-balance-budgets-governors-seek-higher-education-cuts
Louisiana
“I know there must be some pro-Jindal Republicans in Louisiana somewhere, but I haven’t yet met one in the three years I’ve been back. When I ask them why they turned on him, every single one says a variation of, “Because he’s sacrificing the state for his national political ambitions.” Most of them add, “He’s destroyed LSU.”
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/destroying-louisianas-public-universities/
Wisconsin
“This week, Wisconsin kicked off a series of hearings on Governor Scott Walker’s proposed budget, which would slash about $300 million from the University of Wisconsin system over two years, funnel hundreds of millions to build a pro-basketball stadium, and cut deeply from funds for health care, food stamps and public media.”
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/03/18/3634306/students-teachers-brace-scott-walkers-devastating-education-cuts/
Kansas
“With less money to spend, Kansas is forced to chop away at its only hope for real economic expansion: investment in public schools and colleges.”
Arizona
“How HB 2190 could destroy education”
http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/03/17/arizona-academic-standards/24911079/
Connecticut
“He’s often said that education is a top priority, but now some advocates are saying that the swipes Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made at higher education funding and the continued flat funding for schools districts could be a serious setback.”
http://touch.courant.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82858117/
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OTTOMH, California, NY, District of Columbia.
There are states in better shape run by responsible Republicans too, like Governor Snyder in Michigan.
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….Oregon, arguably Minnesota (caveat; Rs have the state house of reps and technically the G and SS are DFL, not D).
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Since Les and so forth all get paid by the Athletics Department at LSU, which has, no matter the state legislature, plenty of money of its very own, maybe Joe Aleva down there should just secede from the university.
Then Les could tell kids “Come on down heah and you kin just play football and you don’t have to mess with going to class over at that bankrupt school.”
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It’s just sad to me that an institution like LSU (or any educational institution) would be looking at an 80% reduction in funding.
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I agree it seems absurd and like a exaggerated threat. Sort of like when I tell my kids to behave or they won’t get until they are 15 (years away from now). Seems like there should have been intermediate steps of cuts.
But, yeah, if they start laying off tenured faculty they will never get another good hire. And even the talk of it will to doubt give potential faculty hires pause now.
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Since La’s parishes get money from the state, how about a school sponsored by the Catholic Church? I mean they could recruit in Chicago plus all the prominent Catholic Schools in the South…..uh…what?…there already is a Catholic college football team? Why didn’t someone say something? But LSU can still recruit in Chicago….whaat?….the other school already recruits that ground heavily? Damn! How about a camp in upper U.S. Indiana. It’s dominated politically by people who have the same political ideas as many Southerners, have a demagogue in place in DC (and we know how La’s citizens love demagogues) and is remote from all that Catholic….what?..who’s located there? And the kids don’t speak Cajun? Who do they think they are, God Almighty? We can still have a camp and compete by naming it the Under God Almighty football school then recruit for good ole UGA….what?….
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Georgia’s tuition has tripled? since 2007. Need more faculty?
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/morehead-tuition-increase-necessary-does-not-sanction-protesting-students/article_23f3686a-e9be-11e4-a798-5363a98939c0.html
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So goes the state’s flagship university. If I were Grover Norquist I’d re-think getting season tickets.
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They’re going to need a bigger boat
http://bobmannblog.com/
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Bobby Jindel was reelected with 66% of the vote in a blanket primary with 9 candidates on the ballot. His closest competitor got only 18%. Those Loozeyanner folks are reaping what they have sown.
I worked in higher ed there for almost 8 years. That place is screwed. Fortunately, I got the hell out and came to… Alabama (we ain’t doin’ much better)
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http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2015-04-23/tuition-hike-outpaces-increase-hope-scholarhip-uga
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The American higher education system is broken.The costs relative to family incomes are way higher than when I attended UGA. So many kids are shackled with debt they’ll spend the rest of their lives repaying; delaying or making it impossible to start a family, own a home, save for retirement….
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Germany just eliminated tuition. Now, they have a different system, so the kids going to college are testing into that opportunity. But, they are making the earning of a college degree a no-brainer for the motivated and qualified. Because they see larger economic and social value in those degrees-holders.
We,seem to be moving in the oppoaite direction. Versions of the LSU thing are happening in other states.
Most state governments are just SGAs with real money, regardless of red/blue orientation.
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http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2014/10/03/there-is-not-such-thing-as-a-free-college-education/
They are phasing out their nuclear power and returning to coal and natural gas. Meanwhile, back at the ranch…http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2014/02/19/dept-of-energy-oks-6-5-billion-for-georgia-nuclear-power-plant/
and it may not get built. Stark contrast in policies.
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They have teachers at LSU?
I never got that impression.
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Piyush Jindal is mowing them down as fast as he can. He just needs a little more time to finish the mission
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He should have Barry Obama explain the merits of hiring adjunct lecturers to save $$.
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IMHO the LSU situation is a problem for the SEC and the NCAA, too. What are those athletics organizations going to do when the SACS suspends, then expels, LSU. How can LSU continue to play other colleges when it has been defrocked as a college?
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