By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – According to Greg Garrett, regional direction for the South Central Louisiana Technical Colleges, to which the Reserve campus belongs, “The cuts have been very significant.”

The cuts he was referring to, of course, are budget cuts handed down by the state government to all public institutions of higher learning in the state.

For this fiscal year, the state has cut its funding to LTC-River Parishes Campus by 15 percent, and there are rumblings that next year’s cuts may be as high as 35 percent.

“That means services will have to be curtailed,” said Garrett.

This information was presented to the local public at a forum organized by the River Region Chamber of Commerce called “Save Our LTC.” The event, held at the Quality Inn in LaPlace, featured not only Garrett but also Cindy Poskey, the chief administrator at LTC-River Parishes, Joe Ben Welch, chancellor of River Parishes Community College, and Steven Hulbert, president of Nicholls State University.

Poskey noted this year’s 15 percent cut necessitated the elimination of nine positions at the school. That left the school with 29 faculty and staff and 10 programs.

The rumored 35 percent cuts would scale the school back to just 10 faculty and staff positions and just six programs.

This year the school has 735 on-site students and 895 dual-enrollment students. The cuts would mean the school could only serve 525 on-site students and 500 dual-enrollment students.

Despite the bleak outlook, Poskey declared, “We will never stray from our mission.”

Poskey presented a number of possible solutions to the matter, but each has its own drawbacks.

The first proposed holding off on cuts or at least scaling them back a bit.

She noted that having to eliminate so many positions would greatly impact the dual enrollment program because it takes many man-hours to do all the paperwork required for the students.

The second solution is to align tuition with market demands. One credit hour at LTC-River Parishes costs just $30.25. This is well below what students pay at places such as LSU and Southeastern Louisiana University or even most community colleges.

Students at LTC on average spend just 21 percent of outside funding on tuition. At community colleges, the average is 62 percent.

Poskey said she is also looking into generating funds through public and private partnerships.

The most likely source of relief for the current financial situation, however, would be through private donations. She presented a chart that showed that each 5 percent cut from the budget represented $150,000 the school would need to make up to not make cuts.

“Let’s take a negative situation and make positive results,” she said.

Welch, while covering many of the same points, noted that if current trends continue, self-generated funds will exceed state funds by 2012.

“We’re going from a state-supported institution to a state-assisted institution,” he said.

His school, however, has been able to address some of its budget woes through the recently approved merger with LTC-Ascension, which will allow both schools to consolidate services and staff.

When Hulbert took the podium, he focused on a point touched on by the other two presenters. His institution, like LTC and RPCC, has a 12-hour cap on tuition. That means that students at these institutions, regardless of how many hours they take, only have to pay for 12 credit hours per semester.

“I believe you should pay for every credit hour you take,” he said.

He said the situation leads students to enroll in more classes than they intend to take, only to drop the classes they deem too difficult. It is a process known as “fishing.”

“We have to get back to the point where they’re serious about getting a degree,” said Hulbert.

He pinned much of the blame for the current fiscal crisis on the fact that Louisiana has “a strong governor and a weak Legislature.”

Still, his plan did not involve seeking government assistance.

“No handout is needed,” he said. “Just let us do it ourselves.”