Louisiana's Third World higher education system

This year, higher education suffered a $270 million budget cut at the hands of the Jindal administration and the legislature. Next year, we'll lose some $290 million in federal funding for colleges and universities.

On top of that, the state budget is expected to fall by more than a billion dollars next year. Heads of state departments have already been ordered to prepare budgets with 35% cuts.

No wonder the state's college leaders told the League of Women Voters that our Louisiana is well on the way to becoming more like a Third World country than a state in the most powerful, prosperous nation on earth.

Advocate reporter Jordan Blum covered the meeting for this story.