Budget cuts in the College of the Arts lead to concern for staff and students

During the 2025-26 school year at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, financial issues have begun to climb, leading to many changes around campus. 

The College of the Arts has had their budget cut by 40%. The yearly budget that is allocated to the college is generally completely released on July 1. 

Due to the current funding problems at UL Lafayette, the administration only released 60% of the budget to the College of the Arts. 

Once the financial crisis begins to be resolved, the decision to allocate the last 40% of the money back to the college will be revaluated. 

Daryl Joseph Moore, dean of the College of the Arts at UL Lafayette, said, “It’s disappointing to be in this predicament, but there isn’t anything that we’re going through in the College of the Arts that the other colleges here on this campus are not going through.” 

Specific changes within the College of the Arts are still being decided, but as of now, there will be limited travel for faculty and students and the open searches for new faculty have been paused. 

Due to these cuts, students may have to buy more supplies themselves instead of having them readily available in their classes, which were paid for by student fees. 

Moore said, “Students may have to, until the administration makes that adjustment to the fees, students may have to pick up more supplies out of pocket than they would have had to do prior.” 

Professors and staff that work in the college are actively being updated with any information that Moore receives, however, information is scarce as the administration is still working to make decisions regarding changes and funding. 

Students that attend classes in the College of the Arts are nervous about how the possible changes will affect their experience at UL Lafayette. 

Gabrielle LeBlanc, an architecture graduate student, said, “We’ve actually lost positions for assistantships for grad students because they’re closing down, so thats… a direct impact on us.” 

“Even, just like, beyond that, it’s just… people don’t really know what else is going on, so people are just kind of weary about… the next couple of semesters, especially for us because our tuition is… covered by the university.” 

Seth Rosette, a sophomore architecture student, said, “It’s discouraging… kids trying to get into those fields.” 

Thien Ho, a sophomore architectural studies student, said, “College is already expensive, like I don’t want to… pay more.” 

Moore stated, “When we recognize that this particular reduction might affect something that’s going to not be good for the student experience, we go back and we address that, and to date… the administration of finance and the President’s office, they get that.” 

“So we’re able to address those things… to make sure that we not just mitigate, but to make sure that the students have the experience that they absolutely have to have here at UL Lafayette.” 

Many factors went into creating the current funding challenge, but one of the biggest things to consider is growth and loss. 

According to Edwin Litolff, the vice president for Administration and Finance, UL Lafayette lost about 1,700 students at the same time that about 500 employees were hired. 

This means that an additional $40 million was added to the payroll and $20 million was taken away due to the loss of those student fees and tuition. 

Since the work on the financial deficit is ongoing, University students and faculty will be updated as new information or decisions arise. 

Moore commented, “It’s a huge, momentous challenge in that it’s one thing if… this is coming next year or next summer, okay, we have to figure out how we’re going to make some adjustments. It’s another thing, oh we’ve got to make adjustments now to get through this year in a certain way.” 

“That’s really what they’re faced with, and you know, I don’t doubt that they’re up to the task and I’ve got to put my trust in them… the University and the Office of Administration and Finance, to do that with ample… information from the colleges.” 

The College of the Arts is working to make sure that students get the same education that they would have gotten before the funding changes the University.