FOOTBALL: Catch up on LSU’s busy holiday break, p. 8
Reveille The Daily
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 • Volume 118, Issue 71
www.lsureveille.com
SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE Midyear BUDGET CUTS
cut for 2013-14 uncertain Fernanda Zamudio-Suarez Senior Reporter
THE DAILY REVEILLE ARCHIVES
ANGELA MAJOR / The Daily Reveille
Ceramics studio ceiling replaced following collapse, p. 3 Holiday crime down from last winter break, p. 3
ANGELA MAJOR / The Daily Reveille
Testing center mishaps related to outdated software, p. 15
The University may have dodged midyear budget cuts from the Louisiana State Legislature for the first time in five years. Today’s Revenue Estimating Conference meeting will appraise the state’s revenue outlook and determine if higher education will once again be subject to cuts, said Charley Rome, fiscal analyst in the Legislative Fiscal Office. Rome said the University is currently uncertain if midyear cuts will occur this year, but Jason Droddy, the University’s director of external affairs, said the REC meeting occurring later than usual is a sign there will be no cuts and there is no current indication of midyear reductions. Midyear cuts are typically announced in December, but 2013 has come and gone without news of a cut, and University administrators said there are no signs the University will receive them this year. Droddy said the budget and revenue are separate items, MIDYEAR CUTS, see page 15
ACADEMICS
Graduation rates at all-time high Gordon Brillon News Editor
The University’s six-year graduation rates reached an all-time high for the third consecutive year, University administration announced Tuesday. The graduation rate for students who enrolled in 2007 hit 69.1 percent, up from the previous year’s rate of 66.7 percent. University Director of External Affairs Jason Droddy said the improved graduation rate, especially as it compares to similarly sized Southern schools, would benefit the University with regard to the LA GRAD Act.
The GRAD Act grants greater autonomy in setting tuition for universities achieving higher rates of graduation and success for students, Droddy said. Last year’s graduating class was also the second-largest in the University’s history. At 6,093, the class was only bested by the graduating class of 2011-12, which totalled 6,251. Droddy said changes made by former University Chancellor Michael Martin, the Board of Supervisors and University faculty to admission standards were responsible for the continual rise of graduation rates even as the size of graduating classes increases. “We are still servicing the same
amount of students, we’re just doing better at it,” Droddy said. Since taking over at the University last year, LSU President F. King Alexander has emphasized the importance of improving graduation rates. In a letter to the editor of The Daily Reveille in September, Alexander said the cooperation of the University, state and federal governments and students and their families would help more students graduate. Contact Gordon Brillon at news@lsureveille.com; Twitter: @TDR_news
LSU 6 Year Graduation Rates 1993:
2012:
39.4%
66.7%
2013:
69.1%
*Includes full-time, degree-seeking new freshmen who enrolled in the fall semester or prior summer
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LSU 6 Year Graduation Rates