UL System President Wants Changes To Budget Cuts

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The leader of the University of Louisiana System is asking the state's top higher education board to scrap its method for divvying up dollars among Louisiana's public colleges, saying the formula is inappropriate to use with budget cuts.

UL System President Randy Moffett says the performance-based formula was designed when state funding for higher education was increasing. He said Monday that he's urged a temporary suspension of the formula.

Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell says he's comfortable using the formula to distribute state dollars to campuses, even with budget cuts.

The formula considers graduation rates, skills training for high-need job areas and other benchmarks — rather than doling out dollars solely on student enrollment. Purcell says the formula includes a provision that seeks to protect schools with declining enrollments.