BATON ROUGE - LSU Interim Chancellor Dr. William Jenkins sent out an email warning faculty and staff about the upcoming budget situation facing the state's flagship university.

In the email Jenkins said preliminary information showed the university would receive $23 million less from state appropriations, and that revenue from tuition wouldn't cover it despite a slight increase from the previous year.

Jenkins said at the same time, internal costs at LSU were rising. Those included unfunded mandates, facility costs and replacement of one-time funds which were used to plug gaps in the previous year's budget. He also said the proposed budget didn't take into account cost of living salary adjustments for faculty and staff, which other major research institutions were offering.

"Our national peer institutions are emerging from the recession and making investments into physical and human resources that will make them stronger in years to come," he said. "For LSU to do the same, we need the resources to make that happen."

This week Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell called on lawmakers to grant a new round of tuition increases to cover the gaps, and grant more autonomy to universities to let them set their own tuitions.

Lawmakers have been reluctant to grant previous tuition increases, and will consider this recent request when the regular session begins April 8.