The cost of tuition rests on Louisiana’s legislatures vote for fully funding higher education.

In preparation for Louisiana’s budget meeting in July 2018, universities around Louisiana hosted forums to advocate how students and faculty can prevent higher education from being on the chopping block.

ULM agreed to host an open forum for students and faculty to stress the importance of fully funding higher education last Thursday in Sandel Hall.

While higher education hasn’t taken a budget cut in 2017, there are still concerns for the next year as about $1.5 billion dollars will have to be cut from Louisiana’s budget.

Any decrease in higher education funding means an increase in tuition, and a decrease in professors and classes.

Many of the speakers like our Student Government Association president, Bryce Bordelon, and the faculty staff senate president, Katherine Dawson, agreed that the way to fix the gap is by keeping Louisiana students in Louisiana’s workforce.

“It’s an investment for economic growth for the state as a whole for now and in the future. I think it’s a vote of confidence on behalf of the legislature that the students stay here and help the state prosper,” said Dawson.

ULM alumnus, Ash Aulds, spoke about his ability to find his niche as a Senior Marketing Analyst at CenturyLink to the funding higher education provided through internship opportunities.

It allowed him to internship in whatever he was interested in at the time, later producing a well-rounded graduate from ULM that afforded him a career in northeast Louisiana.

Senator Francis Thompson spoke to the crowd on his fight in legislature to make it important to other senators.

He considered decreasing funding for higher education as extreme as a homeland security issue and that it should be an important issue for everyone, and not just those who attend college.

Make higher education apart of everyday conversation with our families and friends, so that they can understand.

At the end of the forum, many wanted to know what can we do as students and faculty.

State Representative, Katrina Jackson, offered solutions like calling and emailing your state legislatures.

Voting also makes a difference because “some elected officials tailor to the demographic that voted for them,” said Jackson.

Young adults had a low voting turnout at the last election which accounted for the lack of consideration for higher education.