Some in the state legislature want to move UNO back to the LSU system

LINK

Long article, cliff's notes:

UNO moved out of the LSU system into the UL system over a decade ago. Big reason for this is because UNO felt they were getting short shrift from LSU, and they would be better off "with equals" in the UL system.

UNO has a ton of problems. Enrollment has fallen off a cliff, which, along with mismanagement, has led to financial issues.

Moving back to the LSU system might save them a bit of money due to consoliodation of services with the system... but it won't fix the real issues at UNO. As a proud grad, I see several major issues with UNO right now.

1) The fact that almost every college eligible LA high school senior can get TOPS, plus this social-media fueled idea that college is about an experience, means kids want to go away to college, and to a college that has an actual on-campus life. UNO, as a commuter school, has almost no on-campus life to speak of. Having TOPS pay for tuition means what money their families can scrape together can be used for room and board.

2) UNO used to get a lot of students who were barely ready for college, and certainly could not handle going away to college. By and large, these kids are now going to Delgado. While that is good for the debt loads of these students, and for the state as a whole, the improvement of Delgado is costing UNO.

3) UNO used to also have a large population of non-traditional students who worked during day and went to college "at night" part time. With the rise in online learning, these students now have many other options, both without leaving home, and also with being able to do an online / "learn as you want" schedule.

I honestly don't know how you can solve any of these issues. I think the only way UNO can survive long term is to completely change their focus. But you already have Southeastern and Nicholls not far away, who they would be competing against if they change their focus.

It is crazy to thihk the largest city in the state would not have a public 4 year college. But... LA has too many colleges. The misison of UNO is lost, and the state does not need another Southeastern.