re: Explain basic LSU economics to me

I’d rather have one major school

It's pretty simple

LSU TAF is well off and has one of the best revenues in the nation.
Louisiana has to many colleges and the constitution is horrible. (only allows cuts to Ed and Health Care)

Actually LSU as of today has the highest paid staff in the country. Not exactly broke. We still have to pay off 3 or 4 coaches buyouts. (Les, Johnny Jones, 1 or 2 past assistants I don't remember)

I believe LSU is profitable in all three major sports (Football, Baseball, and Basketball) very few schools can claim this.

Academically Louisiana is broke NOT LSU alone. Louisiana has a strange constitution that protects cuts from everything but education and healthcare. So when the economy was struggling they only way Jindal could keep a balanced budget was gutting higher ed and hospitals. Baton Rouge closed an ER a couple years ago)

Another issue is Louisiana has to many four year colleges.
LSU
LSU A
LSU S
LT
McNeese
Nicholls
Northwestern
Southeastern
Southern
SUNO (11% graduation rate, which is up from 2011)
ULL
ULM
UNO

quote:

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Louisiana has a strange constitution that protects cuts from everything but education and healthcare.

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This basically. The only way to seriously handle the issue long-term is to write a new constitution but's it's much safer and easier politically to badger the legislators and then for the legislators to "find" more revenue.

I mean, lord forbid we cut some of the BILLIONS that state budget has increased in the past decade.

It completely amazes me how any Southern state can bash another for the very same that they are.

One school bashes another for having red necks of hillbillies....we all have them.

One school bashes another for being uneducated....we are all near the bottom.

Fact is we are all more alike than different so stop with the bashing!!!

How one views LSU differs from the perspective of a stakeholder.

A serious and talented in-state student can do very well at LSU. On my last visit to Baton Rouge, my daughter and I met a delightful, polite and bright young African American woman from New Orleans majoring in Electrical Engineering on scholarship but also working her way through school for living expenses. I have no doubt she received a competent engineering education. And frankly representative of what one can find at a state flagship university. This of course is anecdotal, but the point remains - serious students can do well at any of the SEC schools, including LSU.

From the perspective of faculty and staff, LSU could likely be limiting for the best and brightest. They won’t consistently pay in the arms race for top faculty, and if one doesn’t obtain tenure, the next job can be difficult to obtain. If denied tenure at a Duke or Stanford, a professor can generally move on to a state flagship somewhere and succeed. A little tougher at LSU. But tenured professors at LSU likely have an enjoyable career -LSU is a major university.

From the perspective of in state residents, athletics provides great entertainment. I think the key is to use athletics as a springboard for economic development for the school. Clemson has done just that in the past view years.

LSU folks are friendly. I still wear the LSU Track T-shirt given to me decades ago while competing in Division 1 track and field. And while a Northerner by birth, kind gestures like that make me a bit of a fan.