Nicholls State University is preparing to give the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools its ten-year report, and the administration is optimistic that potential budget cuts will not affect the University’s accreditation.

Every 10 years, Nicholls has to send a report to SACSCOC. In recent years, however, they have been requiring universities in the region to submit a five-year report as well. The most recently submitted five-year report was the report Nicholls received a SACSCOC warning from and was lifted last spring.

Concerns are arising that if the possible impending budget cuts hit the University hard, there will not be enough faculty to uphold the standards that SACSCOC has outlined for all the universities in the southern region.

University President Bruce Murphy’s address at Faculty Institute was centered on his efforts to raise enrollment to 8,000 a year. At this current moment, Nicholls does not have enough faculty to meet a sufficient student-teacher ratio mapped out by SACSCOC if the enrollment were to skyrocket in the next year or two. This could lead to another warning in the future.

According to Renee Hicks, executive director of Planning and Institutional Efficiency, the more money we spend on quality faculty, the greater the payoff.

“We have to focus on the future and where we want our growth to be,” Hicks said. “It won’t be easy, but we just need to look with a harder lens.”

Hicks said, “We need to determine the students’ needs and how we can meet them, so that is where our focus should be.”

Hicks believes the head of the University of Louisiana System will keep the University in good hands, and they are being very proactive in ensuring the betterment of all universities in the system.

According to Hicks, no matter what the financial situation is for the University, the SACSCOC standards hold true. Therefore, the University’s top priority will be to ensure we do well on the SACS evaluation so we can continue to receive state funds.

“No public university is rich,” Hicks said. “We have to just get creative and reach out to the community in order to meet our goals and keep this university strong.”

According to Hicks, Nicholls has learned to be self-sufficient since it has opened its doors and that still holds true today. This means that Nicholls should have no problems meeting the SACSCOC standards in the future since they have revamped the way they document information to turn in to the association.

“Our focus will always be to provide quality education that students can afford, no matter what happens to the budget,” Hicks said.