La. commissioner of higher ed: 'Education is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity

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Louisiana has a new commissioner of higher education. Kim Hunter Reed came to Lafayette on her annual listening tour across the state. Here's what she had to say.

Reed focused on increasing access and diversifying during her talk on Aug. 20 at the Cecil J. Picard Center Child Development and Lifelong Learning at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

"Our institutions are anchors of our community, and we have to make sure that the doors are open to more and more of our citizens in Louisiana, whether they're young or young at heart, so that they have the opportunity to reach their unlimited potential," Reed said. "That's what higher education can do."

She said higher education already looks different, student by student. People come to an institution differently. There are the "traditional" students who go straight to college from high school and the "non-traditional" or older students.

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"(Education) is no longer a luxury," Reed said. "It is a necessity. And it is our job that every student — no matter race or place or geography or family background or parents' education level — every student has the opportunity to pursue a life-changing degree. Because we believe in education. Because it's transformational for our students, for their families, and it's community-building at its best."






I’ve never really considered my education to be a luxury. Looking back though all those books I had to read, reports to write, problems to work, etc was pretty self indulgent of me.