Facing a $940 million budget deficit, Louisiana will stop funding its merit-based scholarship program for the rest of the year. And if the Legislature doesn’t find new sources of revenue by June, Louisiana's commissioner of higher education warned, the state’s public colleges and universities will have to suspend operations.
Louisiana universities are facing the largest midyear cut in state history, Governor John Bel Edwards said in a televised speech last Thursday. Even if the Legislature can find additional revenue, higher education will need to cut $42 million this year. Louisiana's total higher education budget is $769 million, and if the Legislature cannot raise more revenue, higher education could face a $200 million cut.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/02/19/la-freezes-payments-state-grant-program-colleges-pick-slack