After year of budget gloom, fate of higher ed. still uncertain - Matthew Albright, LSU Reveille

After an academic year full of budget wrangling and political positioning, the final fate of higher education funding will be decided during the summer break. Gov. Bobby Jindal's executive budget, proposed early this semester, keeps the level of funding for higher education at the same level next year. University administrators welcomed that news after receiving wildly varying estimates of potentially catastrophic cuts last semester. Going into the fall semester, administrators prepared for a hypothetical 23 percent cut in state funding. In the first week of classes, the Jindal administration instructed them to prepare for a 32 percent cut.