higher education cuts loom as states cut budgets State Budget Cuts Leave Less Money For Higher Education : NPR
I am not a resident of Missouri so I don't have a horse in this race. That said, my son is a resident of Louisiana and goes to LSU. The state of Louisiana cut funding to higher education last year as well. I personally would prefer that tax dollars are used for higher education than almost any other use of tax dollars. The higher education funds can contribute to a better future for people that may not have the opportunity if the tax dollars are used for other things. Here is a list of random government expenditures that I would have rather seen go to higher education. 1. $43M on a single gas station in Afghanistan. 2. $375K on a study about senior citizens dating habits. 3. $5.2M on a climate change video game. 4. $3M on Twitter posts to terrorists 5. $1.1M on lost electronics at NASA because they don't track them. 6. $250K space camp for kids from Pakistan. 7. $1.7B on vacant government buildings. My point is that we waste and incredible amount of tax revenues on things that should not have even been considered. Surely higher education is a much better investment than any of the things I listed above. 7 Unbelievable Ways The Feds Wasted Your Tax Dollars https://www.crushthestreet.com/articles/guest-articles/top-20-worst-ways-government-wasted-tax-dollars Top 10 Most Disturbing Government Expenses of 2015 | The Daily Caller
^^^ Of course. What would we do without LSU football??!! Louisiana governor says future of LSU football in jeopardy if state doesn't raise taxes | AL.com
Too funny about the football. Of course football is very important. However I was referring to TOPS. Louisiana college students face a big cut to their TOPS scholarships - Dec. 23, 2016
Very interested scholarship program, especially since it appears to be completely funded by state tax dollars (as opposed to coming from lottery or other revenues). However, a 2.5 GPA "requirement" isn't something I can really get on board with. Maybe raising the GPA requirement would be a better "solution" to the funding problem?
I think raising the GPA is stellar idea. That would make the pool smaller and save some money. However, I am not sure the residents of LA would appreciate that. Let's say that they raised the GPA to 3.0. My son would qualify but a huge chunk in the 2.5 - 2.9 range would get booted.
Yeah, I'm sure that there would be a decently large contingent in that group that would be more than upset, however, in order to "mitigate the damage", the change could be adopted over time, with those not yet in high school being the first group that the new standards would apply to (wouldn't be fair to pull the rug out from under the sophomore who just wants to coast through HS with a 2.5 before enrolling in Tulane now would it??!!)
