The last 12 months have seen Louisiana State University suffer a precipitous drop in its standing among other U.S. universities.
The latest ranking of institutions of higher education by the U.S. News & World Report finds LSU falling 19 spots, now sitting in a tie for #172.
Perhaps even more damning is its position amongst its most direct peers: among all Southeastern Conference schools, LSU sits one spot from the bottom. Only Mississippi State University ranks lower in the SEC.
The ranking takes a number of factors into consideration and weighting those categories:
Student outcomes account for 40% of the tally, faculty resources make up 20% and financial resources are 10%.
The remaining 30% of the total is made up of student excellence (7%), alumni contributions (3%), and finally how the school is viewed by presidents and other college officials (20%).
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In a statement on LSU’s plunge, university president William F. Tate IV placed the brunt of the blame on monetary challenges.
“LSU’s overall rank fell largely because of two categories: financial and faculty resources, both of which are tied to funding," Tate said.Bottom of Form “Our strategic aim, Scholarship First, will target investments that directly impact our faculty, our students and our facilities. To improve will require significant state and philanthropic investments in students and faculty members.”
“While financial resources have been limited compared to other universities,” the statement continued, “LSU has contributed to a Nobel Prize, set a record last year with $166 million in research grants and contracts awarded to our world-class faculty, and had a record-breaking number of students win prestigious national awards in 2021 like the Truman, Goldwater and Udall Scholarships.”
2021 marked the first year that state funding for colleges and universities rose in Louisiana, ending a 13-year streak of cuts or standing pat. The increase amounted to about $100 million total.
When paring the ranking down to public institutions only, LSU ranks 85th in the nation.
Tulane, a private university, once again holds the highest ranking among Louisiana schools sitting tied at #42.
The full report is available at this website.