Louisiana – Schools
Louisiana, a state founded in 1812, has developed into a cultural hotspot many have come to know and love for its wealth of diversity in the areas of food and interesting people. While having a strong cultural background, the state has also developed a strong system of educational institutions and colleges, divided into 4 “systems” of colleges.
The first system, spearheaded by the state flagship school Louisiana State University (LSU), is the Louisiana State University System. LSU has roughly 26,000 undergraduate students along with 4,500 graduate level or above students, giving potential students an option to choose from 14 different colleges or schools in which they’d like to base their studies.
Used heavily as a research institution, the university conducts research funded by many national programs including NASA and the National Science Foundation, providing a strong base for a system of colleges steeped in education of all kinds with branches throughout the state, some giving degrees up to the doctoral level even in health and medicine.
The second branch is the University of Louisiana System, consisting of nine separate schools in nine separate cities, providing the options for two year degrees at some institutions all the way to doctoral degrees at others. Included in this list is the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a school of roughly 15,500 undergraduates and 1,600 graduates. The university offers up to 78 undergraduate programs including some in diverse fields such as Professional Land and Resource Management, which is one of only 11 accredited programs in the country towards becoming a Landman. Along with ULL, the system also contains the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM), known for being the only public university in Louisiana to offer a degree in pharmaceuticals to produce accredited pharmacists.
The Southern University system of schools makes up the third branch, which consists of Southern University schools in New Orleans, Shreveport and Baton Rouge; the flagship school being Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. Southern offers a large supply of potential degrees a student can graduate with, including programs in forestry, therapy and leisure studies, and engineering, along with offering doctoral degrees in fields such as toxicology. The fourth branch of University Systems in Louisiana is the system consisting of many technical colleges throughout the state, including schools in most major cities such as Ruston, Lafayette, Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles and New Orleans.
Along with the four branches, Louisiana has 9 private colleges or research institutes. Most notable on this list of non-state funded colleges is Tulane University in New Orleans. Tulane is an excellent research institute, especially in the health and medicine field, as it was founded in 1834 as a medical college. Notable graduates include Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of House, David Filo, Co-founder of yahoo, and many others including two Nobel Prize recipients. The other 8 private colleges consist of Centenary University, Dillard College, Our Lady of The Lake College, Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana College, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Cornerstone University and Xavier University. Xavier is the only university besides University of Louisiana at Monroe to offer students a pharmaceutical degree in the state of Louisiana.
There are several private, for-profit institutions in Louisiana, including the University of Phoenix, which offers traditional campus-based and online degree programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Traditional Colleges In Louisiana
Centenary College of Louisiana
- Site – www.centenarycollege.edu
- Phone – 800-234-4448
- Admissions – admissions@centenary.edu
- Financial Aid – msrix@centenary.edu
Dillard University
- Site – www.dillard.edu
- Phone – 800-216-6637
- Admissions – admissions@dillard.edu
- Financial Aid – admissions@dillard.edu
Grambling State University
- Site – www.gram.edu
- Phone – 800-569-4714
- Admissions – admissions@gram.edu
- Financial Aid – gsufinaid@gram.edu
Louisiana College
- Site – www.lacollege.edu
- Phone – 800-487-1906
- Admissions –
- Financial Aid –
Louisiana State University
- Site – www.lacollege.edu
- Phone – 225-578-1175
- Admissions – admissions@lsu.edu
- Financial Aid – financialaid@lsu.edu
Louisiana Tech University
- Site – www.latech.edu
- Phone – 800-LATECH
- Admissions – bulldog@vm.cc.latech.edu
- Financial Aid – techaid@ltfa.latech.edu
Loyola University of New Orleans
- Site – www.loyno.edu
- Phone – 800-4-LOYOLA
- Admissions – admit@loyno.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@loyno.edu
McNeese State University
- Site – www.mcneese.edu
- Phone – 800-622-3352
- Admissions – info@mail.mcneese.edu
- Financial Aid – financialaid@mcneese.edu
Nicholls State University
- Site – www.nicholls.edu
- Phone – 877-NICHOLLS
- Admissions – nicholls@nicholls.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@nicholls.edu
Northwestern State University
- Site – www.nsula.edu
- Phone – 318-357-6011
- Admissions – admissions@nsula.edu
- Financial Aid – nsufinaid@nsula.edu
Our Lady of Holy Cross College
- Site – www.olhcc.edu
- Phone – 504-394-7744
- Admissions – smcneely@olhcc.edu
- Financial Aid – Jarmer@olhcc.edu
Our Lady of the Lake College
- Site – www.ololcollege.edu
- Phone – 225-768-1700
- Admissions – admission@ololcollege.edu
- Financial Aid – brook.louviere@ololcollege.edu
Southeastern Louisiana University
- Site – www.selu.edu
- Phone – 800/222-SELU (7358)
- Admissions – admissions@selu.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@selu.edu
Southern University
- Site – www.subr.edu
- Phone – 225-771-4500
- Admissions – admissions@cxs.subr.edu
- Financial Aid – phillip_rodgers@subr.edu
Tulane University
- Site – www.tulane.edu
- Phone – 800-873-9283
- Admissions – Undergrad.Admission@tulane.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@homeport.tcs.tulane.edu
University of New Orleans
- Site – www.uno.edu
- Phone – 800-256-5-UNO
- Admissions – admissions@uno.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@uno.edu
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
- Site – www.louisiana.edu
- Phone – 800-752-6553
- Admissions – enroll@louisiana.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@louisiana.edu
University of Louisiana at Monroe
- Site – www.ulm.edu
- Phone – 318-342-5252 or 877-928-4378
- Admissions – self@ulm.edu
- Financial Aid – finaid@ulm.edu
Community Colleges – Louisiana
Baton Rouge Community College
- Site – www.mybrcc.edu
- Address – 5310 Florida Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70806
- Phone – (225) 216-8000
Bossier Parish Community College
- Site – www.bpcc.edu
- Address – 6220 E Texas St, Bossier City, LA 71111
- Phone – (318) 678-6000
Delgado Community College
- Site – www.dcc.edu
- Address – 320 Howze Beach Rd., Slidell, LA 70461
- Phone – (504) 671-6600
Fletcher Technical Community College
- Site – www.ftcc.edu
- Address – 1407 Louisiana 311, Schriever, LA 70395
- Phone – (985) 448-7900
Louisiana Delta Community College
- Site – www.ftcc.edu
- Address – 7500 Millhaven Rd, Monroe, LA 71203
- Phone – (318) 345-9000
Louisiana State University/Eunice
- Site – www.lsue.edu
- Address – 2048 Johnson Hwy, Eunice, LA 70535
- Phone – (337) 457-7311
Nunez Community College
- Site – www.nunez.edu
- Address – 3710 Paris Road, Chalmette, LA 70043
- Phone – (504) 278-6467
River Parishes Community College
- Site – www.rpcc.edu
- Address – 925 W Edenborne Pkwy, Gonzales, LA 70737
- Phone – (225) 743-8500
South Louisiana Community College
- Site – www.southlouisiana.edu
- Address – 1101 Bertrand Dr, Lafayette, LA 70506
- Phone – (337) 521-9000
Southern University/Shreveport
- Site – web.susla.edu
- Address – 3050 Dr Martin Luther King Dr, Shreveport, LA 71107
- Phone – (318) 670-6000
Career, Vocational, & Trade Schools
Alexandria
Blue Cliff College
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge College
Louisiana Culinary Institute
MedVanceMoore Career College
Remington College
University of Phoenix
Kenner
Herzing College
Blue Cliff College
Houma
Metairie
Blue Cliff College
University of Phoenix
Lafayette
Blue Cliff College
Remington College
University of Phoenix
Monroe
Career Technical Institute
Shreveport
American Commercial College
Ayers Career College
Blue Cliff College
Career Technical College
Remington College
University of Phoenix
Online Colleges in Louisiana
While Louisiana has a good many options available for prospective students who are interested in taking courses at traditional colleges and universities, the options for those seeking fully-online degree programs are slightly limited. According to a 2012 report from National Center for Educational Statistics, less than 5% of Louisiana’s students enrolled in Title IV institutions are are taking online degree programs. While this number may well be higher now, it is reflective of the continued lack of broadband internet access across the state. This is reflective of the lack of high speed broadband access in the United States in general. Despite few students being enrolled in these types of programs across the state, there are several well-established programs that do exist.
There are 44 colleges and universities in the state that provide some form of online degree program. This includes certificate programs, Associate’s degree programs, Bachelor’s degree programs, and a few that offer Doctoral degrees. The best ranked of these is the University of Louisiana at Monroe. A member of the University of Louisiana system, ULM distinguishes itself by being on the U.S. News and World Report’s list of best online colleges. It sits well at #160 for Best Online Bachelor’s Programs and #103 for Best Online Graduate Programs. This is conjunction with its ranking at #93 for regional universities.
Prospective students will find that the electronic version of the University of Louisiana at Monroe campus (or eULM) offers many undergraduate and graduate programs available for interested students. There is one Associate’s degree program available at the school, an Associate of General Studies. There are 16 Bachelor’s degree programs available through the eULM platform. While many of these are the kinds of programs typical of most colleges and universities that offer online degrees (Business, Education, History, etc.), the University of Louisiana at Monroe also offers some more unusual programs, such as a Bachelor of Science degree in Dental Hygiene and a Bachelor of Science degree in Radiologic Technology. There are 17 Master’s degree programs available through the university, which includes a Master of Arts in Gerontology. There are only two Doctoral programs available, one in Education and the other in Philosophy, with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy.
Because the colleges and universities in Louisiana are generally less expensive than those in most other states, prospective students will find that tuition and per-credit rates for degree programs and courses in the state are generally low. This includes the many degree programs available in the public institutions that offer online degrees across the state. The most affordable programs in the state can be located at McNeese State University (annual tuition: $3,200), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (annual tuition: $3,487), Louisiana Tech University (annual tuition: $3,626), Southern University at New Orleans (annual tuition: $4,273) and Northwestern State University of Louisiana (annual tuition: $4,934). There are varying numbers of programs available at the different colleges offering degrees within the state, with some, such as the University of Phoenix, offering most of its courses online, while the traditional colleges and universities have much more limited offerings.