UL at Crossroads

[CajunNation]

Our beloved university is at a crossroads. We have a financial train wreck for many reasons, some of which are unknown to the public. We need to change course and rethink how the citizens of Acadiana and Louisiana are best served by THEIR university.

More Transparency.

• No more hiding DEI programs, failed audits and declining revenue.

Slash Costs

• They have already done some of this. Keep going. Start with the political correct BS.

Focus on revenue generation.

• No revenue=no university. If research is generating net revenue, then continue the R1 journey. If it isn’t, then stop the single-minded focus on R1.
• Offer in-state tuition to residents of Beaumont/Galveston/Houston/Dallas area codes. Lots of relocated Cajuns there.
• Slash cost of Tailgating for most spots. Cajuns love to party.
• Expand the YRC club. A young Cajun fan is a Cajun fan for life.

College of Trade

• Believe it or not, most high school kids DO NOT go to college. A lot of them end up working in Trades/Offshore/general workforce….AND rooting for TSAB.
• UL should pursue a College of Trade that can capture a HUGE section of the public that otherwise will have no contact/experience with the university that supposedly serves them.

Wouldn’t it be awesome for nearly every graduating Senior in Acadiana High Schools to attend UL in some capacity? In a couple of decades, there would be a complete reversal of ratio in number of UL/TSAB families in Acadiana, and UL would be financially stable and growing.

[CajunNation]

Private Equity investment in Athletic Complex Development

* This should be put on the fast track. Get it done.

[MarlinMan3]

Probably not trades writ large, although your point is accurate...but an oil field specific group of majors or "college" would be a great idea. And even some intro/survey courses that could be open to all majors to get an understanding of their community would be awesome

[UL_Cajuns]

I like the idea of a College of Trade under the University. Make them all UL Associate degrees.

[CajunNation]

Free the Greeks

* Quit harassing them. Quit babysitting them. Quit micromanaging them.

[MarlinMan3]

I like the idea of a College of Trade under the University. Make them all UL Associate degrees.

Basically thats how georgia state grew so big, by incorporating a system of junior colleges.... coukd we just put existing trade schools and juco's under our umbrella, change name somehow?

[Duckster]

When Gov. Foster championed creating the community college system in the late 1990's on the surface it made sense. Except it created another Baton Rouge based public education bureaucracy. I'm reading how much UL and other 4 yr universities in the State must cut. But what about reductions at the multiple higher education bureaucracies in Baton Rouge? You've got the UL system, LSU system, Southern system, the Community/Technical College System. The community colleges serve a good purpose but why not have them managed via the UL system? LSU seems to manage LSUE without any fuss. For example, why couldn't UL become the oversight of SLCC, pool resources? There's too much duplicative admin overhead in higher education starting in Baton Rouge to not kick the tires on making structural changes.

[MarlinMan3]

When Gov. Foster championed creating the community college system in the late 1990's on the surface it made sense. Except it created another Baton Rouge based public education bureaucracy. I'm reading how much UL and other 4 yr universities in the State must cut. But what about reductions at the multiple higher education bureaucracies in Baton Rouge? You've got the UL system, LSU system, Southern system, the Community/Technical College System. The community colleges serve a good purpose but why not have them managed via the UL system? LSU seems to manage LSUE without any fuss. For example, why couldn't UL become the oversight of SLCC, pool resources? There's too much duplicative admin overhead in higher education starting in Baton Rouge to not kick the tires on making structural changes.

How much we were cut in late 90s to build the new system

[Cajun90]

The community colleges serve a good purpose but why not have them managed via the UL system?

I have two perspectives on this.

A.) One is from a number of family members who worked in the community college system. They hated it when the transition began from technical schools to Jr./community colleges. It took away from their core mission as they saw it. I agree with this. Especially in todays world where I believe the trades are a great alternative to a 4-year degree. A kid could go get a 2 year degree in a skilled trade for almost no money. That is no longer the case with the mission change. With that said something had to happen to lessen the burden on our Universities with unprepared students.

B.) At UL I was a student representative on the academic appeals committee. Basically kids that flunked out and were asking to be let back in. Was crazy what you would hear from students on appeal. Bottom line though was that a LOT of students were clogging up the system when they had no business being at UL. The amount of remedial classes they had to take was crazy and the administration of that was causing huge headaches. Administrators were begging for an alternative so they could concentrate on the core mission. An example: Youl would have a student on an engineering track and his core high school grades and test scores would result in needing FIVE math courses before he could take the first math course that actually counted towards his degree but with open enrollment and no alternative nothing could be done.

Adding the community colleges to the various University systems would be a disaster in my opinion. They have their place and their mission and the difference is enough to justify the structure. Could it be managed better? Certainly; but I don't think it would be a huge gain financially.

Closing or consolidating some 4-year schools. Absolutely could and should happen but there isn't a single politician in this state that is going to throw himself on that grenade.

[ZoomZoom]

I have two perspectives on this.

A.) One is from a number of family members who worked in the community college system. They hated it when the transition began from technical schools to Jr./community colleges. It took away from their core mission as they saw it. I agree with this. Especially in todays world where I believe the trades are a great alternative to a 4-year degree. A kid could go get a 2 year degree in a skilled trade for almost no money. That is no longer the case with the mission change. With that said something had to happen to lessen the burden on our Universities with unprepared students.

B.) At UL I was a student representative on the academic appeals committee. Basically kids that flunked out and were asking to be let back in. Was crazy what you would hear from students on appeal. Bottom line though was that a LOT of students were clogging up the system when they had no business being at UL. The amount of remedial classes they had to take was crazy and the administration of that was causing huge headaches. Administrators were begging for an alternative so they could concentrate on the core mission. An example: Youl would have a student on an engineering track and his core high school grades and test scores would result in needing FIVE math courses before he could take the first math course that actually counted towards his degree but with open enrollment and no alternative nothing could be done.

Adding the community colleges to the various University systems would be a disaster in my opinion. They have their place and their mission and the difference is enough to justify the structure. Could it be managed better? Certainly; but I don't think it would be a huge gain financially.

Closing or consolidating some 4-year schools. Absolutely could and should happen but there isn't a single politician in this state that is going to throw himself on that grenade.

It’s 2025 and “separate but equal” lives in higher ed of all places.

This is been said many times:

Everything in NOLA should go to one campus. They can stamp LSU on that corpse all they want, NOLA is suffocating on its own issues, many that can’t be fixed. They’re DOA.

Grambling/Tech merge.

But as said, that will never happen.