How Louisiana colleges will spend millions in the state budget

Louisiana’s colleges and universities are bringing home hundreds of millions for construction projects and other key priorities in the state budget, including more than $50 million for a new STEM complex at Southern University. 

The state budget for fiscal year 2026-27, which started July 1, includes approximately $571 million in construction funding for higher education and around $101 million for research, campus security and other special projects. 

Baseline funding for the state’s four higher education systems remained largely the same as in the previous years, but each got at least a little one-time money in the three main budget bills. 

Construction cash

The state construction budget, detailed in House Bill 2, provides allocations for each state university system, including a significant investment for a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics facility at Southern University in Baton Rouge and the long-anticipated LSU library at its main campus. 

The bill includes more immediate money for campuses than the previous three years, and it lays out promised funds for upcoming years. The amounts fluctuate from year to year because construction projects need more or less money, depending on what phase they have reached and the priorities of each system. 

See the full list of construction projects below 

Projects in the LSU System are slated to receive $170 million, down from $196 million last fiscal year. In addition to about $38 million for the first phase of construction of its library, which should begin this calendar year, the LSU main campus will also receive $21 million for a military and security sciences center. 

LSU Health New Orleans will also receive $20 million for a dental simulation facility, and LSU Alexandria will receive $19 million for a health services center. 

The Southern University System will receive $169 million, up from $144 million last year. In addition to the $50 million for the STEM complex, its main campus will receive about $93 million for other projects, including $9 million to stabilize its severely eroded riverside bluff. 

The University of Louisiana System is slated to receive $218 million, up from $175 million. That includes $31 million to renovate a major academic building at Louisiana Tech and $22 million for an athletic training facility at Southeastern. 

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System will receive $13 million, down from about $31 million last year. About $10 million of that is headed to Baton Rouge Community College, including money for general campus development.

Extra bucks

Each system is slated to receive lagniappe for special projects, research, athletics and campus improvements. The total for this extra, one-time funding for the year is more than $78 million, a sharp increase from $15 million last year. 

See the full list of one-time allocations below 

The University of Louisiana System is getting the biggest chunk at $25 million, including $5 million for the University of Louisiana at Monroe pharmacy school and $4 million to aid Louisiana Tech’s switch from Conference USA to the Sunbelt Conference in athletics. 

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System will receive the next largest allotment, $23 million, primarily to boost its workforce training programs, including over $3 million for its Hyundai Steel training center to prepare workers for the new plant being built in Ascension Parish 

The LSU System will receive just shy of $23 million. Its big-ticket items are $3.8 million to purchase land for LSU Alexandria, $2.5 million for campus safety updates in Shreveport and $2 million to support LSU AgCenter search. The main campus will also receive $385,000 to preserve its famous oak trees. 

The Southern University System will receive $6.6 million, including $2 million for evening and weekend classes at its New Orleans campus. 

In addition to Louisiana Tech’s conference switch, the budget bills include more than a million dollars in athletics department subsidies for other UL System schools and $23.8 million in sports gambling tax revenue to be split equally among each Division I program in the state, including LSU.