As the state budget stands right now, the LSU Medical School in Shreveport will have to close next January.

Chancellor Dr. Robert Barish and Vice Chancellor of Clinical Affairs Dr. Hugh Mighty spoke in front of the Senate Finance Committee Monday in Baton Rouge to explain their financial situation.

If I depend on just on what you've budgeted, we would only have funding for about seven months, said Mighty.

According to Mighty, the med school will be short $42 million in the 2013-14 fiscal year starting in July.

Since its inception, the Med School has been partially funded by the hospital. The money it would give the Med School would come from reimbursements the state gave to it for the care of people on Medicaid and the uninsured.

Some of that money comes the Federal government, but last year the Feds cut back on the money it gives the state, so the hospital doesn't have the cash to fund the med school.

During the committee meeting, Sen. Eric LaFleur, (D) Ville Platte, asked, So if you can't sustain the school, do you have prediction on what would happen later in the year [2014]?

If we can't sustain the school it will go out of business obviously which will deal a great blow to the state, responded Mighty.

If the school closes that would mean nearly 900 students in Shreveport would be affected, but both Mighty and Chancelor Barish said they will not allow the school to close.

It's a stretch and a challenge to find a solution but we must find a solution, said Mighty.

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LSU Medical School in Shreveport could close in January