Q&A: Kim Hunter Reed, Louisiana higher education commissioner 

Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed oversees Louisiana’s colleges and universities. In a recent interview, she detailed her work with the state Board of Regents and how its programs serve students in Louisiana. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The full interview can be heard Episode 65 of “The Light Switch” podcast. 

Piper Hutchinson: Many people are confused by Louisiana’s higher education governance structure. What is it that Regents does? 

Kim Hunter Reed: We work with the legislature and governor. We set policy, whether it’s around financial aid, funding formula, admissions, so our work is policy work, advocacy work. 

Hutchinson: One of your big goals is to increase the degree and credential attainment in the state. Why is that important? 

Reed: We set a goal in 2019 that we needed at least 60% of Louisiana’s population having a credential of value beyond high school. That was really focused on what the Georgetown Center was telling us about how many jobs in the state in the year 2030 would require that credential. The future is now. 

More people need credentials than ever before, and so we started at 44%. We are over 52.5% at our last report. The new report comes out in September, but we’re continuing to make progress. 

Regents doesn’t graduate one student; that good work is happening at the campuses. We’re trying to make sure that collectively the people of our state have access to affordable, accessible credentials that allow them to meet their full potential. 

Hutchinson: In terms of accessibility, one thing I see Regents promoting a lot is the hunger-free campus program. Can you tell us a little bit about that program and how it works? 

Reed: So many people think that if a student is on a college campus that they are resourced, but what we do know is that we have a significant number of students who are in the K-12 system that are receiving feeding food support, and that deficit does not go away when you graduate from high school. 

This legislative session, we received a million dollars. Those funds support food pantries on college campuses. You’ll see us doing everything from having lockers on campus, so that if it’s after hours and the food pantry is closed, adults who have an evening class have access to food. You may see us buying more food or partnering with a local food bank, churches. 

Hutchinson: One of the big higher ed topics during the legislative session was accreditation and allowing universities to switch between accreditors. What’s that all about? 

Reed: There’s been some conversation as to whether or not accreditors are reflecting the values of states, governors and institutions. The Trump administration announced that they wanted more competition in accreditation. They wanted to allow new entries into the marketplace, and so the legislature has passed a law that requires the Board of Regents to establish a structure where, if an institution wants to change accreditors, there is a process to do so. 

It requires them to petition their management board. It requires regions to keep the list of all the U.S. Department of Ed approved accreditors, and so there would be a path if anyone wanted to switch accreditors. 

Hutchinson: Has there been any interest so far from any universities wanting to switch? 

Reed: We have not heard of any interest in universities switching at this point. Our board will be approving that policy and a number of other policies that are tied to legislative change coming up, and so we’ll have more information then. 

Hutchinson: Another big Regents initiative is work-based learning. Do you think that giving more students an opportunity to gain work experience while they’re still in college will help mitigate Louisiana’s brain drain? 

Reed: It is certainly our hope that if you have an early connection to business and industry in Louisiana, you’re more likely to stay in Louisiana. It’s a theory, obviously. It is certainly within our theory of change to say that if we have robust work-based learning experiences with Louisiana companies, we believe that that will yield results for us in terms of talent retention. 

We’re not just in the talent development business. Now we are in the talent retention business as well, with a more diverse economy coming to Louisiana.