No decision on temporary closure at Nicholls State

As of today, Nicholls State University is not temporarily closing its doors for the current semester due to mid-year budget cuts.

The governor’s office asked all universities to prepare for a mid-year cut in the event that the legislature and governor fail to agree on ways to raise revenue during the legislative special session.

Nicholls provided a list of scenarios regarding how it might handle varying degrees of mid-year budget cuts, Nicholls State President Bruce Murphy said in a news release. In submitting the financial planning document, one of the options included temporarily closing the campus for several days.

“Nicholls State University has absolutely no intention of closing unless there is no other option,” Murphy said. “Obviously, that is the absolute last option that Nicholls would ever take.

“However as the governor mentioned in his Thursday public address, temporary closure of universities throughout Louisiana is one of the many possible outcomes.”

Social media postings Monday expressed concern over the possibility that Nicholls State would close temporarily, sometimes responding as if the university’s shutdown was a done deal.

The 2015-16 school budget is approximately $55 million, Nicholls State Director of Marketing and Communications Stephanie Verdin said in an email. Of that $55 million, the state funded 29 percent of it, which is $15 million.

The remaining 71 percent comes from self-generated funds such as student tuition and fees totaling $39 million.

Nicholls’ share of the potential budget cut is $2.5 million, Verdin said.

The TOPS funding was decreased by $1 million, which adds to the budget cut total. This loss of TOPS funding must be “wholly absorbed in the final four months of the year,” Verdin said.

On Friday, Nicholls was notified that TOPS would pay 80 percent of what it owes each institution, Verdin said. Universities are required to absorb 20 percent of unpaid costs.

“Nicholls students on TOPS will not be required to pay the unfunded portion of their scholarship,” Verdin said.

In August, Nicholls received a mid-year budget cut resulting in a state funding loss of $73,000.

The campus has every expectation that classes will continue as scheduled this spring semester and beyond, Verdin said. Faculty and staff members are preparing for spring commencement and the 2016-17 academic year .

“Nicholls will not know the severity of its funding reduction or what impact that will have on campus until the (special) session is over,” Verdin said.

In the meantime, administrators are “exploring various contingency plans and no decisions have been made.”

The special legislative session started Sunday. It is expected to last until March 9.