re: Just Back From Tuscaloosa--Impressions:

Yeah, Louisiana's state Constitution really is prohibitive for cutting spending by making sure that only education and healthcare can be cut. The other fact is that Louisiana has the most 4 year colleges per capita of any state and has one of the fewest 2 year colleges per capita ratios of states. The obvious solution is to convert some of those 4 year colleges to 2 year community colleges and VOTEC schools, but it's a political hand grenade and no one has the balls to jump on. If Louisiana were to go ahead and condense some of these redundant schools (especially the crazy number in north LA like having ULM, Tech, Grambling, and LSU Shreveport), reduce the number of redundant degree programs offered by nearby colleges, and convert some 4 year schools to 2 year technical schools, LA could have more funding available for their flagship.