Dorm prices may rise for UNLV students

Almost 1,100 UNLV students may be facing higher rent for dorm rooms if a rate hike is approved in April by the Board of Regents.

The regents were presented with the proposed Residence Hall rate hikes -- the first since 1998 -- at last week's meeting. The board is expected to vote on the matter at the April 6-7 meeting in Northern Nevada.

Sandi Cardinal, director of Internal Audit for the University and Community College System of Nevada, told the board that, since 1998, operating costs of the double occupancy rooms with phones have risen 6 percent.

"The new room rates reflect an approximate 3 percent increase -- the amount necessary to cover expenses while keeping rates as low as possible," she said.

It is estimated that 1,077 UNLV students will have to dig a little deeper into their pockets to pay for shelter.

The fee increase will raise the rate per semester from $1,710 to $1,764 for returning students and from $1,761 to $1,814 for new residents.

The rate for Summer Session I will climb from $263 to $271 while the rate for Summer Session II will rise from $420 to $433, Cardinal said.

UNLV students did not address the board on the informational item that did not require a vote by the regents.

Also, the fee for a little-used service -- the option to take a single exam instead of a complete course for university credit -- will take a sharp hike if the regents vote to approve UNLV's student fee change requests in April.

Currently, a student can pay $10 to take a test in lieu of the class. That amount could climb to $60 per exam.

Cardinal said the hike is necessary because often a special test has to be created and a proctor and grader are needed. It also means extra work for the registrar's office

"The fee is not commensurate with the amount of time spent on the task required," Cardinal said, noting that $40 of the fee will go to the department that gives the test to pay for graders and personnel to prepare special exams. The remaining $20 will go to the registrar's office.

During the 1998-99 school year, just 73 UNLV students opted to take the tests and forgo the complete course -- more than half of them in the Department of Foreign Languages.

The Community College of Southern Nevada sought no new -- or increases in current -- student fees.

Increases in student fees -- even by small amounts -- sometimes becomes the object of controversy. Last October, the regents approved a $4 per credit hour technical fee.

Students, upset that the Legislature cut technology funds from the higher education budget, told the regents they were willing to pay the fee necessitated by that cutback because technological services greatly benefit them.

The technology fee is expected to raise more than $8 million during the remainder of the 2000-2001 biennium. It will be used for the replacement of computers and other technological equipment.

UNLV President Carol Harter said those funds already are being put to use to not only add new computers in the classrooms but also to repair and maintain old ones that are being used as informal learning tools in the student union building.

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