Cash to equalize college funding approved

CARSON CITY -- A key budget subcommittee agreed today to pump an additional $23.7 million into the University and Community College System of Nevada to cover rising enrollments and to start eliminating some of the funding inequities that hit hard at UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Senate and Assembly leaders met behind closed doors for about 45 minutes and then unveiled their plan at a meeting of the joint subcommittee on funding for higher education.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the first priority is taking care of the growing number of students in the system who officials predicted would grow in enrollment at a rate of 6 percent per year for the next two years.

But in his initial budget, Gov. Kenny Guinn only gave enough money for a 2 percent growth.

Later the governor added $8 million to his recommendation.

The subcommittee included another $5.3 million. That is expected to be enough to cover the 6 percent enrollment increase.

And the subcommittee agreed to begin to reduce the inequity in funding between campuses. It will allocate $11.7 million to start the ball rolling. An independent study found the inequities totaled about $24 million.

Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said this is a good start. "Halfway was a good solution," he said, noting that there will be an interim study taking a look at how the university system is funded.

University Board of Regents member Steve Sisolak, who is from Las Vegas and has lead the equity fight, was happy that the Legislature had increased funding.

"But I had hoped for more," he said, noting that the extra money for equity would take care of only 25 percent of the problem.

This means that some students in Southern Nevada won't be able to get classes, and it will delay them gaining their degrees, Sisolak said.

The higher education equity funding is one of the last major budget items to be approved as the Legislature ends for final adjournment on May 31. The subcommittee will take up funding for public schools next week.

The subcommittee's plan authorizes the board of regents to raise student fees by 75 cents a credit at the university and 40 cents at the community colleges to bring in an extra $1.8 million to help pay for the increased growth.

Student fees are already going up. This September the fee per credit at the universities will go from $69 to $71 and than to $74 in September 2000. The community college fees rise from $39 to $41 a credit this September and then to $42.50 next year.

The total package approved by the subcommittee is $35 million over the Guinn budget.

But it is less than the $40.4 million sought by the regents in their latest request. The subcommittee rejected the suggestion from the regents to take $60 million from the estate tax for extra money for the schools. Instead it agreed with the governor's recommendation to use $55 million.

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