Dive Brief:
- LSU President F. King Alexander spoke to senators this week about the dire circumstances surrounding Louisiana higher education funding.
- The Times-Picayune reports Alexander urged Congress to use federal funding as leverage, requiring states to maintain their own investments in higher education to receive the federal dollars.
- He also advocated a change to Pell Grant and work-study funding formulas so elite schools don’t get a disproportionate share of funding simply because they charge higher tuition, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing Wednesday as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, soliciting input about ensuring college affordability. Louisiana started out the budget season with a proposal from Gov. Bobby Jindal for the most severe cuts to higher education in the country. The state legislature has mostly backed away from those cuts by finding more money, but Jindal’s opposition to new taxes is complicating matters as the legislative session prepares to wind down. Now Wisconsin seems poised to make the biggest cuts to higher education in the nation.