State shortfall hits university hard

The state’s 2009 budget shortfall is leaving Nicholls State University feeling the pinch, but the university’s administration, faculty and students are coping with the situation as best as they can.

Gov. Bobby Jindal is asking higher education to absorb $55 million of the state’s $341 million budget deficit for the fiscal year 2009.

The state’s higher education system shared a $34.7 million pool of new funds in 2008-09. Even with the proposed cuts, colleges in Louisiana are still at the Southern Regional Education average for funding.

However, according to Nicholls’ President Stephen Hulbert, the university reached its SRE average for the 2007-08 school year and did not receive new dollars.

Nicholls’ budget going into the 2008-09 school year was $59.8 million, $51,000 lower than the previous year.

Hulbert accepts the university’s responsibility to share in higher education’s budget reductions. The university has cut a little over $1.5 million from its current budget.

“Each of us at Nicholls recognizes the severity of the financial situation nationally and in Louisiana,” he said. “We accept our responsibility to address the university’s share of the cuts, while making every effort to maintain the integrity of the academic program.”

Nicholls submitted its budget reductions to the University of Louisiana System on Jan. 9.

As part of the belt tightening, the travel, supplies and capital outlay budgets were trimmed. In-state and out-of-state travel were reduced by $125,000, educational supplies for all campus departments were reduced by $221,454 and capital outlay was cut by $175,000.

Additionally, some perks enjoyed by the Nicholls students have been eliminated and the faculty is being asked to work more for less.

Nicholls is attempting to preserve positions and pay its current employees, while simultaneously placing a hiring freeze on vacant positions.

“The majority of the faculty and staff are willing to take on more classes for no change in pay,” Larry Howell, associate provost, said. “They are committed to the school and the students. They say ‘If we have to work with less, then that’s what we are going to do.'”

On the other hand, students are being left out in the cold.

The number of courses being offered is decreasing and class sizes are becoming bigger. Those moves are necessary to compensate for the smaller adjunct faculty funding and the freezing of full-time faculty and staff positions.

Library operating hours, lab hours, employment opportunities and scholarship offerings have also been reduced.

Even the campus tennis courts, where many of the students went to relax during the night hours, have been closed because the courts will no longer be illuminated to preserve energy costs.

Student Government President Alex Barnes said the fewer class offerings present the most problems.

“So many of the seniors are waiting to see if the school will have the courses they need to graduate,” he said. “Are the students upset? Yes. Can they understand the position the school is in? Yes. Will they have the same understanding when graduation time comes? I don’t know.”

The Thibodaux City Council is also concerned. The council sent a resolution to the governor and the Legislature asking them to reconsider the higher education cuts. Councilman Chip Badeaux authored the resolution.

Badeaux fears the cuts will lead to a second increase in tuition, the loss of qualified professors, campus programs and incoming students to Nicholls.

“The proposed budget cuts will cripple Nicholls, adversely affect our economy and set higher education back for years to come,” Badeaux said. “If we were outraged at the possibility of an increase in legislative pay, then we should be even more outraged at this new disinvestments in our economy, our intellectual talent and leadership when there are alternatives.”

Badeaux’s alternative is for the state to use some of the its surplus funds to pad the budget for the next few years.

Hulbert said the 2008-09 budget situation is still a “work in progress.”

“I remain confident that we can maintain the academic core in support of our students, but I understand full well that there will be an impact on existing services,” he said. “Every effort will be made to minimize the impact.”

The Louisiana Division of Administration has unveiled more budget cuts for the upcoming school term, 2009-10 year.

The LDA has instructed the state’s institutions of higher education to prepare two financial scenarios that, if implemented, would result in a substantial reduction in state-appropriated funds.

According to the proposals, Nicholls could face a minimum budget cut of $4.7 million and a maximum cut of $8.6 million.

“Clearly, a budget cut of either magnitude would be incredibly damaging to our university, students, faculty, staff and the region we serve,” Hulbert said.

The submission deadline for the proposals was Jan. 26. As of press time, the Nicholls administration was considering every possible source of additional revenue before any reduction is actually implemented.

The university also considered any potential program reductions while protecting the university’s academic core.

“These are very challenging economic times for Louisiana, and unfortunately the majority of budget cuts must be absorbed by higher education and health care,” Hulbert said. “Nicholls will work closely with its legislative delegation and the Division of Administration to do its part. Now more than ever, we need the citizens of the Bayou Region to voice their support for Nicholls and the future of higher education in Louisiana.”

Higher education is only 4.5 percent of the state’s budget, but it is being asked to absorb 16 percent of the deficit, according higher education officials in Louisiana.

Jindal proposed the cuts in higher education on Dec. 30, 2008, stating that when governments face economic shortfalls, there are only three possible solutions: go in debt, raise taxes or cut spending.

To justify the cuts, Jindal said the elimination of the $341 million deficit for 2009 is the first step to identifying savings that can be sustained to prepare the state for the much larger projected shortfall in the 2010 budget.

“When Washington faces this problem, they usually make the wrong choice, preferring, first, to incur mountains of debt, then raise taxes, and rarely do they ever cut spending in any meaningful way,” he said in a release. “But, on my watch in Louisiana, we will do it in just the opposite manner.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Louisiana’s projected budget shortfall for the coming year could have a major impact locally. Nicholls State University President Stephen Hulbert said he’s been directed to develop two budgets: One $4.7 million lighter and the other $8.6 million lower. * Photo courtesy of NSU

Doug Keese