Paying for education

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

UNLV’s academic reputation is being hampered because it cannot recruit some of the nation’s best graduate students. The incentives UNLV offers to prospective students pale in comparison with those offered by other colleges and universities.

Doctoral candidates at UNLV may receive a stipend of about $12,000 a year for teaching and doing research work. Students pursuing master’s degrees are given a smaller stipend.

Other schools pay twice as much as UNLV, and the university has seen many promising students go elsewhere.

As Charlotte Hsu reported in Sunday’s Las Vegas Sun, UNLV President David Ashley said the problem is at the top of a list of priorities for improving the campus. Despite the state’s budget crunch, he is looking for ways to improve graduate pay.

It is unclear how he might do that, but it is worth the effort. UNLV wants to become recognized as a research institution, but that will never happen unless it can attract and retain high-caliber graduate students to teach and work on research projects.

Eugene Moehring, chairman of the history department, said the university will benefit if the state spends more to attract students, allowing them to focus on their work, not on their finances.

“That’s how you become important,” he said. “You produce faculty and students who succeeded in a big way. You’ve got to invest some time and money unless you want to let California handle all the Ph.D. students.”

Nevada, however, has not done so. For decades, the Legislature has not properly funded education. It shouldn’t be that way.

The state should be producing better-educated students and attracting the best. To do that the state will have to spend more money. Sadly, between the current economic situation and the current administration in Carson City, that is unlikely.