Annual "close schools" thread: It's time

The legislature will never have the collective political will (i.e., balls) to close any colleges and universities. But can we finally admit that it's time?

I hate to say it (as a parent who has benefitted from TOPS), but if they were to get rid of TOPS altogether, some of the smaller, struggling campuses would eventually die on the vine and have to close. So why not save all that heartache, fully fund TOPS, and close and merge schools.

I realize these threads always devolve into nasty arguments, with people agreeing in principle, but always wanting somebody else's school closed instead of theirs (hence the political problem). I'm hopeful that we can agree, on this LSU site, that LSU is nobody's "pet school" and that it should be fully funded to Southern, if not national, averages.

Here are my suggestions -- and I acknowledge that there may be no real distinctions between "closing" and "merging" if you are shutting down a campus. Tough titty.

Keep and fully fund:
LSU
Tech
ULL


Merge:
ULM and Grambling into Tech
Southern into LSU
SLU with UNO (2 campii)
Northwestern with LSUS (2 campii)

Close:
Nicholls
McNeese
LSUA
SUNO

Eliminate 2/3 of community/junior colleges.