Friday, April 26, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Student leaders at UNLV predict opposition to a proposed increase in tuition in the University and Community College System of Nevada, but they grudgingly concede it may be necessary.
"There definitely will be a negative reaction," said Ken Harlan, outgoing president of the Graduate Student Association at UNLV. "The students feel they are being pinched."
But Harlan and incoming GSA President Joyce Marshall said it was necessary to maintain services and a quality education.
An advisory committee Thursday unveiled a plan to boost community college and university undergraduate registration fees by 4 percent and graduate registration fees 3 percent in each year of the coming 1997-99 biennium.
Chancellor Richard Jarvis said the system needs to raise its revenues "to ensure a high-quality education system that can provide critically needed instructional and research technologies and student services." He called this a modest proposal.
Jarvis is set to meet with UNLV students Tuesday to explain the need for the increases.
Aaron Rosenthal, incoming student body president at UNLV, said Jarvis hasn't shown how these increases will raise the quality of education. He and outgoing President John Pida urged students to attend the session to get answers to their questions.
But the session comes in the middle of final exams and with students trying to complete their final papers.
Rosenthal said the students should get involved up-front, rather than wait until after the fees are approved. The fee increase plan was outlined to the Board of Regents, which will be asked to approve it at its June 21 meeting.
The committee suggested registration fees keep pace with inflation and increase by a further 1 percent per year as long as they remain below the average for public universities and colleges in the Western states and below 25 percent of the 1995-96 cost of education.
Registration fees in the Western states range from a low of $1,580 in Idaho to $4,140 at the University of California. The median is $2,310 and Nevada charges $1,830.
Fees at community colleges range from a low of $390 in California to $2,210 in Alaska, with Nevada at $1,005. And graduate fees range from $1,887 at the California State University to $5,290 in Oregon, with Nevada at $2,016.
"A lot of students are against it," Rosenthal said. "They don't want to see costs go up. He (Jarvis) will have to explain very thoroughly why they need to."
Marshall said she doesn't see a lot of waste in the system. "We provide quality education and students want to see it continue," she said. "No one likes it but it may be inevitable."
The proposed undergraduate fee for residents at the university would go from $64 per credit hour to $66.50 and $69 in September 1998. Credit fees for the community college would rise from $36.50 to $38 and then to $39.50 in September 1998.
Graduate credits would rise from $87 to $90 and then to $93 for residents.
Nonresident tuition would jump from $5,100 to $5,435 and then to $5,770 for those attending the university. For those attending the community college, nonresident tuition would rise from $3,200 to $3,519 and $3,838.
The committee said the raise in nonresident tuition and registration fees would cover the full cost of education supplied by the Nevada system.
The advisory committee is composed of three school presidents and three student representatives. It met three times between Jan. 11 and April 11.
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