Board of Regents to discuss potential 25% tuition increase

Stan Fulton Building, Room 130, International Gaming Institute 801 East Flamingo Road, Las Vegas Meeting: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Public comment scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Budget discussion scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Map from UNLV.edu Illustration: Jason Emord

Editors note: Please vIew and endorse our Letter to the Board of Regents to stop the tuition increase.

The Board of Regents is set to discuss and possibly vote on an increase of up to 25 percent for tuition and fees for Nevada higher education during their meeting  Thursday.

The proposed hike could raise up to $50 million per year for the state’s university system.

According to the Dec. 4 and 5 meeting agenda, Thursday’s meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in the Stan Fulton Building, with public comment scheduled for 1:10 p.m. and the budget discussion, including discussion of tuition and fee increases, is scheduled from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

“We’re trying to get the senators… to go speak out to the campus,” said CSUN Vice President Vik Sehdev. “We need to get people to the meeting.”

Because of the discussion of potential tuition increases, the December regents meeting is of particular interest to students.

“We’re telling everyone to show up at the Board of Regents meeting. To show up, wear red, bring signs. Do anything to show support,” Sehdev said.

“Show up any time before 3 p.m.-[before] the actual discussion item starts and they have two hours for it.”

In his 35th memo on budget cuts to Nevada’s higher education, dated Nov. 18, Chancellor Jim Rogers addressed the potential for increased tuition and fees, not yet listing any potential numbers.

“As we examined this issue,” the chancellor wrote, “it became clear the system had no incentive to ask its students and their families to invest more in higher education if higher tuition and fees were not guaranteed to remain at their respective campuses.”

Rogers attached nine letters of support from campus and community leaders across the state, most of which grudgingly accepted tuition and fee increases as part of the solution for the state’s educational budget crisis.

Campus leaders emphasized that increased funds from tuition and fees should remain within the campus the funds came from.

“It is essential that if there must be new tuition and fee increases imposed, that those monies remain at the institution that is collecting them,” Student Body President Adam Cronis wrote in his letter to the chancellor.

“At the present time, a majority of the revenue garnered from tuition and fee increases must be sent to the state general fund. In the interest of equity and efficiency, it is paramount that these revenues be retained at the local level, which in this case would be the educational institution.”

UNR Associated Students of the University of Nevada President Eli Reilly shared Cronis’ concerns.

“If tuition is raised, it should be done so to assist with the financial problems taking place on campus, not around the state,” Reilly wrote.

“I do not think it is fair to raise tuition for college students to help underwrite the cost of other state services. A similar practice would be to begin charging hospital patients more money so that the state can increase funding to the prison system.”

UNLV Graduate and Professional Student Association President Jessica Lucero raised the same points as Cronis and Reilly, with added concern over the effect of increased tuition on graduate education.

“Tuition goes up to keep up with inflation but the stipends we receive and partial tuition payments do not, making graduate and professional students on par with the poverty line and struggling to pay for their education,” she wrote.

The figure of 25 percent tuition and fees increase was brought up after the chancellor’s memo. Figures were previously hovering around 14 percent.

“I think they mean it-they weren’t throwing any number out there,” Sehdev added.

“The way they got to their number makes sense. They have to cut a certain amount and they have six months to meet that in this budget. They have to cut at least 15 percent, up to 22 percent and then [compensate for] inflation.”

Because of the impact a tuition increase is bound to have on student finances, university President David B. Ashley sent an e-mail message on Nov. 26, assuring students that financial aid opportunities are still available for spring 2009, even for students who have not yet applied for aid.

Although voting on the tuition increase will take place on Thursday, Ashley’s memo stated that a town hall meeting is scheduled for after the regents meeting, Dec. 10 at 3 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 2 p.m., to address the issue.

Current in-state yearly tuition for Nevada and neighboring states 

Nevada

UNLV

$4,493

UNR

$4,561

Arizona

Arizona State University

$5,661

University of Arizona

$5,531

California

University of California: Los Angeles

$7,551

California State University: Fresno

$3,687  

California State University: Fullerton

$3,658

New Mexico

New Mexico State University

$4,758

University of New Mexico

$4,834

Oregon

University of Oregon

$6,435

Utah

University of Utah

$5,285

Utah State University

$4,445

Washington

University of Washington

$6,802
 

Clark County Regents Contact Information