On Sept. 3, 2025, a letter regarding multiple new policies meant to trim down the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s spending was sent out to all vice presidents, deans and department heads. By Sept. 15, all employee remote working was to be “phased out” and costs such as conference travel and operational services were to be reduced.
This letter came from the Office of the President, currently seated by interim president Dr. Jaimie Hebert, along with vice president for administration and finance, Dr. Edwin Litolff.
Louisiana’s Gov., Jeff Landry, previously sent out executive order 25-048 earlier this year stating that, “All existing telework arrangements shall end no later than June 30, 2025, except those that are medical accommodations approved in accordance with the policies of the respective state department, agency, board or commission as required by R.S. 46:2594.”
The second section of the executive order noted who this applies to, saying, “…all state departments, agencies, boards and commissions under the Governor’s authority shall require their employees to perform their duties at a designated physical office or facility.”
It was originally questioned if public higher education fell under this list but the University followed suit about 10 weeks later.
The University employs thousands of people between teachers, administration and student workers.
Per the Office of Communications and Marketing, there are 1,996 full-time employees within the University, and 53 were still fully remote at the time of these new policies.
This is around 2.6% of all full-time employees, or one in every 38.
Regarding bringing remote workers back to campus, there are exceptions. Litolff said, “I know there are a few special cases where the job is not here. Like, we have a recruiter that we hire in Dallas.”
Employees whose jobs are meant to be out of the area will remain so, such as recruiters and some research projects, but the goal is to bring as many employees back to office in Lafayette as possible.
When it comes to the cost of employees in the campus budget, from 2017 to 2024, the University is up $40 million in employee payroll, but down more than 1,600 full-time undergraduate students and more than 300 graduate students.
Full-time undergraduate students are where the majority of University tuition money comes from; full-time undergraduates take at least 12 credit hours per semester, often have housing and generally stay for four-year degrees.
The tuition for a full-time undergraduate is $5,580 per semester.
This number is then roughly doubled with the inclusion of University fees, housing and meal plans, bringing in just over $11,000 per student. In 2024 we had about 11,100 full-time undergraduates, much lower than our peak of nearly 13,000 in 2015.
Litolff noted, “When you’re down 1,684 students…that’s $19 million dollars.” So, bringing enrollment back up is one part of improving the University’s fiscal health.
The exact number of newly enrolled students for the 2025-26 school year has yet to be released.
However, per the University’s website about Freshman Convocation from the Office of First-Year Experience, “Over 3,000 first-time freshmen will soon be on campus for the Fall 2025 semester.” Many of these 3,000 will fall in the basket of full-time undergraduates.
Litolff ’s goal of trimming down additional employee costs such as conference travel is going hand-in-hand with our beginning in increasing enrollment.
The increase in funds from tuition combined with lowered expenses can help fill in the University’s negative cash flow, as our expenses currently outweigh our revenue.
Regarding travel, according to the University’s 2024-25 fiscal report, from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, $8.4 million was spent on travel. Of this, $1.8 million came from conference travel.
In the letter it is said that travel is not completely eliminated, but all requests will be under heavy review and virtual attendance is recommended whenever possible.
There will also be a cut to special meal expenditures and catering, which also cost the University several million dollars this past fiscal year.
All of these new implementations exist not only to lift the University out of a fiscal deficit, but to restore the connections and local involvement that students and faculty have within their campus.
There is a lot to expect between phasing out remote working, more students and less travel.
With growing enrollment and reduced expenses, the hope is to pull the University out of the fiscal red and put money back into the Ragin’ Cajuns.