Higher education formula revised

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 18, 2008 - Page: 6A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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A freshman engineering student is three times more valuable to a university than a first-year liberal arts student under the state’s proposed higher education formula.

State Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen discussed some of the numerical intricacies of the formula for the first time Monday.

It would be in effect for the next school year.

The changes are based partly on recommendations by the Legislature and Gov. Bobby Jindal to make college funding more performance based and focused more on actual program costs rather than just student enrollment figures, which is the way higher education is funded.

The big question is whether the state can afford to fund the new formula at its highest levels when the state is anticipating an economic downturn.

Cuts could be looming just as higher education seeks more money to change the way dollars are distributed.

“It’s hard to change a culture under crisis,” Clausen said.

Becoming more performance-based and more accountable in graduating more students are imperative to meeting the state’s growing work-force needs, Clausen said. More workers with technical college training are needed as are more with advanced engineering or medical degrees, she said.

“We’re not producing enough educated citizens to accommodate the expectations of tomorrow,” Clausen said.

The college funding formula is based on enrollment numbers and student credit hours. It does not factor in graduation rates or the fact that it costs more to educate an engineering student than an English major, she said.

The proposed formula would put an extra $116 million into the state’s higher education system, including more than $20 million extra for LSU. But Clausen admits getting new money next year could be a pipe dream.

The new formula’s “core component” takes into account the higher faculty and personnel costs at a top-tier research institution like LSU versus a fourth-tier research school such as Nicholls State University, she said.

The formula then has a matrix on student values based on program costs and state needs.