Tuition hikes will benefit system

Tuition increases at colleges and universities, usually greeted with a mixture of outrage and worry, would be good news for Nevada’s higher education system.

Nevada students have long had some of the lowest resident tuition rates in the country. For the current academic year, UNLV and UNR students are paying $116.75 per credit hour. With mandatory fees included, a typical full-time student pays about $4,000 a year. Community college students pay less than half that amount.

But tuition covers only 20 percent of the higher education system’s budget — hundreds of millions of dollars in state subsidies cover most of the expenses. Factor in the cost of the Millennium Scholarship, which awards free rides to Nevada high school graduates who earn average grades, and taxpayers have reason to question whether bachelor’s degrees are becoming a new entitlement.

A proposal heard by the Board of Regents this week seeks not only to shift more costs from taxpayers to students through increased tuition, but to alter the state’s current funding formula, which sends tuition dollars through a maze of red tape into the general fund, then returns only 60 to 70 percent of student contributions back to the institutions.

The plan calls for charging resident undergraduates at UNLV and UNR $142.75 per credit, or roughly $5,000 per academic year including fees, by 2010-11. Community college students would see tuition rise just 15 percent from current levels, to $63 per credit. Campuses would get to keep the additional tuition revenue to bolster student services and fund more financial aid.

These are good ideas. There’s something to be said for giving students greater ownership of their education. Prospective undergraduates will take their college preparation more seriously, and better apply themselves to their studies, if they have a bigger financial stake in the work required to receive a degree.

And let’s face it, a great number of Nevada college and university students are getting what they pay for — even the ones who pay nothing at all. Open-door admissions policies and low- to no-cost tuition have flooded campuses with students ill-equipped for the rigors of higher education, creating an environment of academic mediocrity. As a result, the value of a Nevada diploma has suffered.

Higher tuition also gives the system the responsibility of providing students with an educational experience worth the increased costs.

Tougher admission standards due to take effect in the fall will help. If UNLV and UNR aren’t worth $5,000 per year to the few resident students who have to pay full fare, enrollment figures eventually will reveal as much.

Nevada’s higher education system will benefit from higher expectations that include higher tuition.