The Nevada Sagebrush

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The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents will hold a special meeting 9 a.m. Friday in Las Vegas. The meeting will be  streamed live at:
www.dri.edu

The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents will hold a special meeting Friday to discuss budgetary issues before final cut decisions are made in June.

In addition to general budget discussions, the regents will discuss and possibly vote on proposals for tuition increases and the sale of land that houses the Fire Science Academy.

One proposal is a 15 percent increase in tuition for the University of Nevada School of Medicine that was originally brought to the regents at their March meeting in Las Vegas.

“Our medical school’s tuition is well below other medical schools,” University of Nevada, Reno President Milton Glick said.

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education lists UNSOM as one of the cheapest medical schools in the West.

At the March meeting, regents removed a cap on the size of tuition and fee increases that could be levied against medical students, paving the way for the 15 percent increase proposal.

Two other proposals could affect tuition and fees for all NSHE students. The first, which was approved earlier this year by a tuition and fee committee, makes temporary surcharges, set to end this year, permanent. The second proposal, put forward by Regent Jason Geddes, calls for a 7.5 percent increase in tuition and fees for all students. Student-body presidents at all eight institutions oppose Geddes’ proposal according to a letter from those presidents to the Regents.

“When we need to raise tuition, we will make that decision then,” said Eli Reilly, the Associated Students of the University of Nevada president and the president of the Nevada Student Alliance, an organization of student body presidents that participates in tuition negotiations. “We can’t just raise it some arbitrary number.”

Geddes said his proposal was important going into another biennium of expected budget cuts. If NSHE does not raise tuition, the Nevada Legislature will be more likely to cut its budget out of an assumption that students can make up for the cost, he said. A tuition increase is inevitable and it might as well happen on the Regents’ terms, rather than the Legislature’s, Geddes said.

“We’ve had a 20-plus year policy of low tuition and fees that hasn’t served us very well,” Geddes said.

Glick said Geddes’ strategy on the prospect of a tuition increase showed a political foresight that might prove valuable. Despite that, Glick said he wasn’t leaning toward Geddes’ plan.

“I’m inclined, but open to being convinced otherwise, to not support it,” he said.

If the increase is adopted, undergraduate education in Nevada will still be among the cheapest in the West, Geddes said.

Also on the Board of Regents’ agenda is the revising of the NSHE Code to redefine the terms “financial exigency” and “furlough” to allow more changes to personnel without declaring exigency.

One of the final proposals on the meeting’s agenda pertaining to UNR is a request for the Regents to approve the sale of the Fire Science Academy site in Carlin, Nev., to the state of Nevada for $10 million. The money from the sale would go straight to reducing a $27 million capital debt, Glick said. The university is still involved in negotiations with the federal government for money to keep the academy operating, Glick said. If money can be secured, UNR will continue to operate the academy without owning the land.

Jay Balagna can be reached at jbalagna@nevadasagebrush.com.

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