NSU survives state budget scare

The fallout of this year’s state budget-fixing legislative session didn’t have the crippling effect on Nicholls State University that many feared last fall.

After an estimated 4.8 percent cut in its budget, Nicholls will not be able to expand its offerings this year, but the university is on stable ground concerning future elimination of programs.

“We’re basically flat,” Nicholls President Stephen Hulbert said. “It will be a challenging year to maintain a balanced budget, but we can do that. The same thing is going on with everybody else.”

Last fall, Nicholls was told to prepare for as much as a 35-percent reduction in state funding for the 2011-2012 year. Instead, state support increased by $400,000, but the remainder of expiring stimulus funds worth $7.1 million were not replaced, effectively totaling a 22-percent cut in outside funding.

But due to a 10-perecent, state-permitted hike in tuition, the Nicholls administration is projecting no more than a 5-percent decline from last year’s projected budget; it could be as little as a 1-percent cut, depending on how much self-generated revenue the school can obtain.

It’s not enviable, but it is also not “irreversible harm,” which is what NSU executive vice president Larry Howell feared less than a year ago.

“No matter which one you pick, it’s better than the 35 percent or even the 10 percent it got down to in December,” Howell said last week. “We’re happy because we can make it another year, but things are going to have to change. They just are.”

The cap that prevents state universities from charging students for more than 12 credit hours needs to be addressed again in 2012 and should at least be raised to a 15-hour limit, Howell said.

The current fiscal year’s tuition increase was granted by two acts of legislation. The 2010 Grad Act allowed a 5-percent hike for every state school based on performance-qualifying metrics and the second 5 percent is the final permitted rise from 2008 legislation.

Fall tuition increased to $2,368 for full-time, in-state undergraduates and $6,343 for full-time, out-of-state undergrads. Last year, it was scheduled at $2,145 and $5,757, an increase of $222 and $585 per semester.

Beginning next year, schools that meet 2010 Grad Act standards will be able to raise tuition 10 percent. The 10-percent increase will be granted yearly until an institution meets the average of its Southern Region Education Board peers.

Administrators are projecting a relatively flat enrollment for the coming school year. As orientation is ongoing, it’s too early for specifics, Howell said, but the total number of students should be similar to last year, with a 2-percent variance either way.

Nearly 7,100 students enrolled last fall.

The students who do attend will see an institution straining to cope with the cuts, according to its lead official.

“[The students] will notice a continuation of last year,” Hulbert said. “Larger class sizes. They will hear from some of their faculty that they’re teaching extra courses and it’s more demanding of faculty. They will see some classes deferred and not taught as often as they have been.

“It will be the same as last year, but there will be no further reduction of programs of courses, which is what we’re all interested in.”

Approximately 200 Nicholls State University students, faculty, staff and community members attended the Rally for Higher Education at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge last November. COURTESY PHOTO