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Board of Regents tells House committee Louisiana hits 51% attainment but faces funding gaps for adult aid and TOPS retention
Summary
Board of Regents leaders told the House Education Committee the state has reached a historic 51% postsecondary attainment rate and outlined gains in co‑requisite remedial reform, dual enrollment and workforce alignment — while warning MJ Foster adult aid and TOPS face fiscal pressures that could limit impact.
The House Education Committee heard a state‑level progress report on higher education Thursday as leaders from the Louisiana Board of Regents urged lawmakers to view colleges and universities as investments in the state’s workforce and fiscal future.
"We're at a historic 51% educational attainment rate," Misty Cordell, chair of the Board of Regents, told the committee, praising campus efforts and stronger alignment with regional workforce needs. Cordell and Kim Hunter‑Reid, commissioner of higher education, said the state is on a path toward the system's 60% credential goal by 2030 if current reforms continue.
The Regents and commissioner highlighted several policy and program developments they said are driving student success: statewide adoption of co‑requisite math (where students take credit‑bearing courses with lab support, rising from an 11% success baseline to a 52% success rate) and expanding co‑requisite English; stepped‑up dual‑enrollment participation (Board materials show roughly 41,000 high‑school students currently enrolled in public postsecondary courses); and stronger workforce partnerships to place graduates in high‑demand jobs.
But officials asked for continued legislative attention to finances. Commissioner Hunter‑Reid said the MJ Foster adult financial‑aid program — currently a $10.5 million program that has helped thousands of adult learners — is popular and at risk of exhausting available funds. "We're about to run out of money," she told lawmakers, noting $7 million currently sits in a fund that the Regents plan to ask the Revenue Estimating Conference and the joint budget committee to release and to seek additional appropriation in the next legislative session.
The Regents also flagged a longstanding facilities need: they estimate roughly $2 billion in deferred maintenance across public campuses, and they thanked this year’s $75 million appropriation as a step toward addressing immediate needs.
Lawmakers pressed Regents on specific non‑budget steps they could take to raise attainment. In response, Commissioner Hunter‑Reid emphasized (1) framing higher education as an investment rather than an expenditure, (2) a whole‑of‑state approach to workforce alignment and (3) more aggressive career exploration, apprenticeships and internship pathways beginning earlier in K‑12 to improve students’ workforce readiness.
Several members raised programmatic follow‑ups. The Regents said reports on the statewide suite of financial‑aid programs (including TOPS and GoTeach), and additional legislative reports on DEI and ESG topics, will arrive before February. The committee will consider those materials at subsequent interim meetings or in session.
The committee adjourned after public comment and a motion from Rep. Carlson to end the meeting.
