The Nevada Sagebrush

Graduate and undergrad students won’t have to pay more for classes after the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents voted against a proposed 7.5 percent tuition and fee increase Friday, but they will have to continue paying a surcharge that was made permanent.

The decision was made at a special meeting held to discuss NSHE’s response to budget cuts passed by the special session of the Nevada Legislature earlier this year.

The Board also approved special fees for UNR students passed in recent student elections, an increase in tuition and fees for students of the University of Nevada School of Medicine and the sale of property in Carlin, Nev., that houses UNR’s Fire Science Academy.

While budget-reduction plans were heard for UNR and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, decisions on those plans were postponed until the Board’s next regular meeting in June. The Board made the postponement because both schools are planning “vertical” cuts, or the elimination of academic programs, and must go through a lengthy curricular review process.

UNR and UNLV were the only schools in the system that did not have budget-reduction plans finalized at the meeting. The Board approved plans for the other six NSHE institutions, which did not include the elimination of academic programs.

“This is an unprecedented use of NSHE policy to respond to an unprecedented budget calamity,” UNR Provost Marc Johnson said to the Board when explaining why the larger schools’ plans were taking more time.

During the discussion of the curricular review process, regents praised Johnson and UNR President Milton Glick for conducting what they said was an open and fair process in deciding which programs to eliminate, despite letters and e-mails they received from members of the public alleging otherwise.

“I don’t know how you could be more open than the colleges and universities have been,” Regent Michael Wixom said.

When discussing tuition, the Board decided against a tuition hike proposed by Regent Jason Geddes in expectation of another large budget cut after the 2011 session of the Nevada Legislature. The Board instead decided to stick to a recommendation from a tuition and fee committee that met earlier in the year and included student representation.

Nevada medical students didn’t escape without an increase. During the next two years, tuition and fees for medical students will increase 15 percent each year, a large jump that still keeps UNSOM one of the cheapest medical schools in the West.

“(The increase will) leave us below almost every other school in the region,” Glick told the Board.

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

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