Originally Posted by
dawg80
LSUS is facing the same budget issues all schools are. In their case, and some others, it's more critical because they were operating even more marginally than "bigger" schools. By bigger, I mean Tech, ULL, SLU, especially, and even McNeese, ulm, and NSU are hanging in there. Nicholls and Grambling are being kept afloat. Yes, it's a different system, LSU vs. ULS, but the issues are the same.
But re: the mission, nothing has changed. In fact, those students who are dependent on LSUS have become more so. Their options, given the rising cost of tuition and other increasing costs, are further limited. Most simply cannot choose another school.
Now, if the merger takes place, could Tech serve this population of students? I suppose so. But! all the rhetoric coming from the pro-merger crowd at the time was Tech had no interest in serving their needs. And! that is completely understandable if Tech-Shreveport (i.e. the former LSUS) were to become an extension of Tech, with its higher admission standards, higher tuition, etc... Tech and LSUS have DIFFERENT missions! They do NOT compete for the same students. Although, there are some students at LSUS who are Tech-quality, they just chose to attend LSUS for other reasons.
So, since Tech and LSUS have different missions, the question should be readily obvious: what happens to those students, that segment of higher ed and the market it serves? Who steps up to fill the void? NSU...maybe? Fine, but the state won't fund such an expansion that would allow NSU to step up. At the time this question was met, from the pro-merger crowd, with a resounding WHO CARES? Well, I do, for one.
To more directly answer your question, LSU-BR is doing for LSUS what the ULS is doing for Nicholls and Grambling, keeping the doors open, and little more.
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