Another school year, another round of higher education budget cuts and another hurl of shrieks from academic elites. It has become somewhat of a routine, but buying into the academics’ sham is naive. Let us recall what has taken place.  
Southeastern has seen budget cuts every fiscal year since December of 2008. The university’s fiscal year 2008-2009 budget was approximately $127.6 million, with state funds comprising $79.3 million of that amount and self-generating funds totaling $48.3 million.
Since then the roles between university and state funds have almost entirely reversed. The fiscal year 2012-2013 budget was roughly $108.7 million, with the university generating $69.4 million and state funds being reduced to $39.3 million.
And to add on top of last year’s budget slashing, the university will lose $2.7 million in state funds for the fiscal year 2013-2014. Already 11 university employees have been laid off.
All of this gives the illusion that the sky is falling. But budget cuts in general are not causing the state to implode.
What academia cannot seem to grasp is that Southern universities are far more inexpensive and typically more state-funded than northern universities. Because of this, Louisiana higher education can handle budget cuts, because tuition is relatively low to begin with.
Recent data from the Southern Regional Education Board demonstrates that while Louisiana institutions are the fourth most cut institutions in the country, they are ranked 18th when it comes to state money spent per capita on state higher education.
Not to mention, as less and less state money fuels into higher education, tuition and fees increase a tad bit. But this also is not a catastrophic event. The more costly education gets, the more serious the individual takes their education. We do not need a federal task force to study this trend; it is a common sense fact.
Southeastern has persisted through budget cuts because of fee and tuition increases, which remain fairly low.
Gov. Bobby Jindal disproportionately cuts higher education and healthcare, which is typical, phony conservatism. A true conservative would propose across-the-board cuts throughout the state, including state agencies, as the group of house conservatives known as the “Fiscal Hawks” did last legislative session.
But Jindal would never allow for that because those cuts would affect his office, and God forbid politicians and their lavish lifestyles take the brunt of any cut. If only the state would diminish the amount of state universities and colleges, we would not have to hear the Ph.D crowd screaming for their lives over budget cuts because more funds would be given to each individual institution. Then again, they would just scream about institutions being cut completely.