According to the Louisiana Board of Regents, on April 24 the Board of Regents awarded $21 million from the Louisiana Educational Quality Support Fund (LEQSF) to colleges and universities statewide to fund a variety of valuable educational and research programs for FY 2007-08.
“The Board of Regents Support Fund is a critically-important resource when it comes to ensuring the quality and competitiveness of Louisiana’s colleges and universities,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie. “Louisiana’s citizens can take great pride in the fact that our state had the wisdom to set aside this resource exclusively for education.”
Here is a statement from the board of Regents regarding expectations, explantion of revenues and spending:
The program is funded through a permanent trust fund approved by voters in a 1986 constitutional amendment. The original $540 million payment was part of a settlement between the state and federal governments over disputed off-shore oil and gas royalties (sometimes called the “8(g) fund”). As of March 31, 2008, the value of the permanent trust fund had risen tonearly one billion dollars. Twenty-five percent of the earnings from the fund each year is reinvested in the fund. The Legislature appropriates half of the remaining interest earnings to the Board of Regents for higher education and the other half to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for grades K-12.
The Board of Regents component of the fund is known as the Board of Regents Support Fund (BoRSF). The Louisiana Constitution provides that the Board of Regents may use the fund to support any or all of the following programs: 1) carefully defined research efforts, 2) endowment of chairs for eminent scholars, 3) enhancement of the quality of academic research or agricultural departments or units; and 4) recruitment of superior graduate students. The fund supplies Louisiana colleges and universities with investments targeted at quality-critical areas ranging from faculty development to scientific equipment acquisition.
Savoie said that he is hopeful that the Louisiana Legislature will set aside supplemental dollars this year to fund additional endowed chairs and professorships. In nine of the past eleven years the Legislature has appropriated additional funds from the state’s general budget to help relieve the backlog of endowed chair and professorship proposals which have already received the private portion of their funding..
The Board’s approval establishes the following award distribution:
Endowment of Chairs for Eminent Scholars - Total funding: $3.200,000
Institutions receiving funding in this category are LSU A&M ($800,000 for two $1M chairs); LSUHealthSciencesCenter - New Orleans ($400,00 for one $1M chair); Louisiana Tech ($800,000 for one $2M chair); TulaneUniversity ($800,000 for one $2M chair); and the University of Louisiana – Lafayette ($400,000 for one $1M chair).
Research and Development - Total funding: $5,208,833 ($2,231,409 in first-year funds)
Institutions receiving funding in this category include LSU Agricultural Center, LSU A&M, LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans, LSU Health Sciences Center - Shreveport, LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center, LSU – Shreveport, Louisiana Tech, Tulane, Tulane Health Sciences Center, University of Louisiana - Lafayette, University of Louisiana - Monroe, UNO, and Xavier.
Enhancement of the Quality of Departments/Units - $8,634,890 in first-year funds
Institutions receiving funding in this category include Baton Rouge Community College, Bossier Parish Community College, Centenary College, Delgado Community College, Dillard University, Fletcher Technical Community College, Grambling University, Louisiana Delta Community College, LSU Agricultural Center, LSU- Alexandria, LSU - Baton Rouge, LSU - Eunice, LSU Pennington BRC, LSU - Shreveport, Louisiana Tech, Loyola, LUMCON, McNeese, Nicholls, Northwestern, Nunez Community College, River Parishes Community College, Southeastern, Southern University A&M, Southern University - New Orleans, Southern University - Shreveport, Tulane, University of LA at Lafayette, University of LA at Monroe, UNO, and Xavier.
Also under this category is funding for Endowed Professorships, which will be awarded at a later date.
Recruitment of Superior Graduate Students - Total funding $3,971,000 ($1,150,000 in first-year funds)
Institutions receiving funding in this category include LSU A&M, LSUHealthSciencesCenter - Shreveport, Louisiana Tech, McNeese, TulaneUniversity, TulaneHealthSciencesCenter, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and UNO.
The BoRSF funds are awarded through a competitive, selective review process, incorporating the expertise of approximately 400 out-of-state reviewers. For FY 2007-08, 770 proposals and applications from 36 campuses were considered.
Through June 2007, the BoRSF has generated $705.4 million in new external funding for Louisiana higher education from federal, private and other non-support fund sources. An additional $299.4 million has been generated for Endowed Chairs and Professorships, creating 247 one-million-dollar chairs and 30 two-million-dollar chairs at 24 universities across the state, as well as 1,935 endowed professorships at 34 campuses.
For additional, campus-specific information on the LEQSF awards (including amounts) contact Kevin Hardy at the Board of Regents.
Some students who are college bound, will either not obtain a degree or obtain a useless degree and should be looking to other areas of employment that will improve their status as concerns their ability to earn a living. Although trade school often is seen as an alternative to those "unable" to succeed at higher studies (“lacking intelligence” in other words) it should be kept in mind there are jobs (Instrumentation Technician at a Nuclear Power Plant and aircraft mechanic are two examples) that not only pay well but additionally are positions that are only filled by intelligent people (at least one hopes this is the case!). Supply and demand applies to positions that require a degree as well as any other commodity. Students would be wise to see what jobs are needed and the typical compensation these jobs have before deciding to pursue an expensive degree that may not lead to a good paying (or otherwise desirable) job. Written by kpf
on 5/12/2008
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Come now, dears, you may not oversee them but what about the trade and technical areas of education. The people of Southern Louisiana may speak for the needs of trained electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc. What money will be used for such education as this. What money will be used to pull in quality educators and students to do this type of work. Not everyone is college bound. Indeed some of those students, who are college bound, should be looking to other areas of employment that will improve the status of their fellow citizens. Give it a thought, dears. Written by RhettsWife
on 5/12/2008
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