re: Note to Out of State Alums

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If the kids are "outstanding" then they should qualify for merit based scholarships and this point is moot.

Who it effects are kids who do not have high enough GPA and SAT to receive merit based scholarships and have to pay their own way.

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So basically its a hand out to get some kids from Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, etc that had parents go to LSU in the past get a discount?

Look, I love LSU and love Louisiana. I am trying to build my career such that I can go back, but you left. Tough luck. You made that decision. You're making more money out of state and aren't paying state income taxes to begin with if you are in Texas, yet expect a State school in Louisiana to cut you a break because your kid wasn't smart enough to get a fully merit based scholarship. Tough luck.

Lou the Jew, you made your choice and left. Why should LSU discount their fees for your kid? Because you went there? Sounds like bad business to me, especially given the debt the school is in.

And to everyone that keeps saying this will lower enrollment. LSU is already TOO FREAKING BIG as far as undergrad enrollment goes and the state is paying through the nose for it. LSU should be around 25k undergrads or less, not 32k+ to be an effective top notch university.

Im from out of state (born and raised in California ) but Ive been living in Louisiana for two years. Im a SDSU grad and can see both sides to this issue.

With that said, im curious how much money the Tops program cost LSU and the state? Also, what are the qualifications to receive this assistance ( scholarship )? Do you guys feel thats in danger as well?

Ok first and foremost, I'm from the great state of Louisiana. I don't care how hard the times have gotten there, I love Louisiana and LSU. I am VERY proud to let people know I'm from there and will defend it to any moron who try's to bad mouth it.
I agree to an extent what some people are saying on here about the Bengal Legacy scholarship. I, unfortunately, dont live in Louisiana anymore. My choice of career has taken my wife and I away from the home we love. We both desperately want to move back there one day. So we do not contribute to the state income tax anymore that helps fund the scholarships and helps keep the lights on there. So do we really all deserve to receive such a generous discount to LSU if we live out of state when my daughters get old enough to attend there, no. But as a yearly contributor to the alumni association, and still paying back loans, I do think that alumni should get a little help...maybe a 10%-25% discount on top of any merit money that is earned. My career path has put me working at universities across this nation. Each university I have worked at climbing the ladder, they had some sort of alumni discount for their children. It was small of course, but every little bit helps, especially with the rate of tuition SOARING everywhere.
What I'm most dissapointed in is other LSU grads that still live in Louisiana, bashing us who had to leave the state because of work, not because we were desperate to leave, but because we had to go were the jobs are. If I could've stayed, trust me I would have stayed and never left. I have had a couple interviews at in state universities for jobs, and finished second a few times for them. If I got offered a job back home, we would leave tomorrow to move back. So I really applaud any and all LSU grads who stay and work hard for a living and continue to help improve the quality of life there. Just don't dump on us thinking we dont give a crap about Louisiana and just want to use LSU for some scholarship for our children just so they can go where mommy and daddy went. I still hope to send my daughter, and baby #2 (find out in 4 weeks ) to LSU if they want, with or without the legacy scholarship. If they dont, then thats their choice.
Here is to ALL LSU alumni and future graduates, and to all my friends and family in Louisiana, I pray daily for things to get better down there. Especially my friends and family that work on the rigs, or in the seafood industry.
As the words to our Alma Mater read....FOREVER LSU.

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Fact is if LSU wants to move into the top 50, they need to shrink their undergrad enrollment and more than double their graduate student enrollment. That is how you increase in these "rankings". PERIOD. No school with 4,000 grad students in a student body of 36,000 (less than ~12% of the entire student body) being graduate students is going to be in the top 50.

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UT is almost twice the size of LSU and enjoys a ranking and reputation in the Top 50--size has nothing to do with it, standards do. Rather than bragging that the average ACT score of entering students is "almost 26," perhaps the university should set that score as the floor and recruit talent. Those that can't make the cut can go to ULL or ULM. Just a thought...

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but to the poster who thinks the Legacy cuts are a great idea, ponder this--it's not just about providing a monetary benefit to alumni (though that's certainly an effect); a university becomes immeasurably stronger by attracting talented students and professors from around the world. This program was one way to allow outstanding students whose parents moved away to attend LSU rather than taking their talents elsewhere. LSU has incredible potential to make a run at Top 50 status as an academic and research institution; while I understand why the Chancellor made the decision here, I believe it may have some seriously detrimental long-term effects down the line. I hope I am wrong.

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The Legacy program was a way of attracting students from other states which adds to the diversity of the student body at LSU and enriches it. I understand the need for cuts, but this could affect us personally as my oldest son (a senior this year) wants to go to LSU and the Legacy program would have helped make that possible. LSU just became a lot less attractive. So that's the negative effect this will have.

Ya'll are going to be really upset when you get wind of the proposed budget cuts being announced mid sept.

LSU will be set back a decade or more as a result of these cuts. Over 100 profs/instructors to be cut. Some have already turned in their notices and left for greener pastures and many in the process of leaving but still teaching this semester at LSU. That means much larger classes and courses to be cut.

Many will not be happy with the cuts to be announced by facility services. They will be able to do routine maintenance and keep the grass cut but no new flower plantings or general landscaping improvements on campus. 80+ employees cut. Instead of custodial staff cleaning nightly every bldg it'll be reduced to 3 times a week per bldg.

On top of the elimination of many programs to come.

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Chancellor Martin

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Is not the problem. His Skelator boss and the idiots that sit in our legislature that didn't have the seeds to address the budget "deficit" this past session.

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If your kid is so "outstanding" they should be getting full scholarships OR some type of merit scholarship that didn't have something to do with Mommy or Daddy going to LSU.

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Bingo. No members of my family went to LSU, but as an out of state student I still have a very nice merit based scholarship. Just because some kids with average GPAs, class rankings, and test scores whose parents attended LSU don't get a scholarship, does not equate our school losing bright out of state students. If they want to attend LSU have them work hard in school and earn the generous and easily attainable out of state scholarships like Golden Oaks and Chancellor's Alumni etc. etc.

I work at LSU, so I know they make decisions that don't make sense pretty much daily. This decision to end Bengal Legacy REALLY is odd. Even if you don't buy in to the "LSU Family" mantra, you are biting the hand that feeds you. This is for children of alumni.....alumni that you want to support the university financially via the Alumni Association, LSU Endowment, Corporate Match funds, TAF, whatever. Now you're saying a big "F you" to them. Also, these students still pay tuition. It is just a waiver of 75% the out of state fees, they still pay tuition plus 25 percent . So, you're now going to jeopardize tuition income from a couple thousand students, not to mention housing income, academic excellence, technology fees, etc. since these students may now be forced to remain in Texas, MS, AL or wherever to go instate. So, you don't get the out of state fees OR the tuition income now either for many of these. You're doing this to supposedly try to attract a couple hundred Nationally top students who may have no connection to LSU. I love LSU, but if I was one of these students and I was being recruited by an Ivy League School or the Public Ivys, I am not sure that LSU would really be in my frame of reference. So, I'm just not sure this is the wisest thing to do.

Lets see:

$6,556/year with Legacy, Alumni giving per year of $4,700.

Now $14,394, my kid goes to a different school and no giving to LSU.

I see the light of LSUmafia, why should those who pay taxes as residents of Louisiana subsidize out of state students whose parents left to make a living somewhere else. Out of state Alumni should have the same philosphy, why should we give money to subsidize students at LSU, we left the state and are doing much better. Why should we help subsidize the TAX payers of Louisiana by giving to LSU. I guess Forever LSU ends at the state line.

This will be penny wise and pound foolish in the long run.