University of New Orleans transfer to LSU System expected to cost $23 million this year
The University of New Orleans sign sits in front of the University Center on Dec. 15, 2022. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana lawmakers are advancing legislation to transfer the University of New Orleans from the University of Louisiana System to the LSU System at a cost of about $23 million, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said.
Senate Bill 202 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, unanimously passed the Senate Tuesday. It will next be discussed in a House committee and must also receive approval from the House of Representatives and Gov. Jeff Landry before it takes effect.
The bill would reverse the action legislators took 14 years ago to move UNO to the University of Louisiana System from the LSU System, which it had been a part of since the university was founded in 1958.
The implementation of Harris' legislation is subject to funding. LSU estimates the transfer will cost $41 million in the first year and another $40.4 million over the next four years.
'That's more of a pie-in-the-sky type thing,' Harris said of LSU's estimate.
Lawmakers don't plan to spend that much this year, Henry said in an interview after the vote. Instead, he expects to spend $20 million to wipe out debt to vendors and another $3 million for must-do deferred maintenance costs. Those deferred maintenance dollars will likely come from existing funds for campus construction projects, Henry said.
The university's possible return to LSU's control is in response to UNO's acute budget crisis. The school faces a $30 million shortfall and has implemented a spending freeze, layoffs and staff furloughs in an attempt to make ends meet.
UNO administrators have kept open the possibility of further layoffs and furloughs. Its budget crisis is largely tied to enrollment. The school had a student body of around 17,000 before Hurricane Katrina, with an immediate drop to around 6,000 after the storm. For the fall 2024 semester, its total enrollment was 6,488.
Unlike UNO, every school in the LSU System has reported enrollment increases over the past few years, in contrast to nationwide trends of declining student numbers on college campuses.
The Louisiana Board of Regents, which oversees all higher education in the state, has already approved the transfer.
At the time of the system switch in 2011, UNO alumni and boosters applauded the plan, as many felt the university was overshadowed in the LSU System.
UNO would be the only institution in the LSU System classified as an R2 university, meaning it has high levels of research activity, second only to LSU's main campus, which is a R1 school with the highest research activity rating.
In the University of Louisiana System, there are two other schools with research-level rankings: the University of Louisiana Lafayette, an R1, and Louisiana Tech, an R2.
UNO would also be the only other school in the LSU System with an NCAA Division I athletics program.
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