Tuition boost to be debated

Students at Nevada’s two universities might face higher tuition increases than in the past if higher education leaders get their way.

Since the legislative session ended, officials have begun talking about raising tuition rates at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the University of Nevada, Reno.

"I think that will be a significant topic of discussion over the next six months," said university system Executive Vice Chancellor Dan Klaich.

Klaich said he and others will begin discussing a change in the fee structure with legislative leaders in the next few weeks, and fee increases are expected to be more significant than in the past.

The amounts of the tuition increases haven’t been decided yet — they would have to be approved by campus leaders and the Board of Regents — and students in the next school year won’t see any changes in rates.

However, Chancellor Jim Rogers and Klaich are looking for a new long-term strategy to fund the system’s two universities, which are facing a funding crisis because of flattening enrollment levels.

That strategy includes raising per-credit rates and allowing the colleges to keep a larger portion of the increases. Much of the focus would be on increasing the amount of need-based student aid.

"When we raise fees, those students are legitimately going to ask, ‘What’s in it for me?’ " Klaich said. "Students would support a higher fee model if they could see a greater return on services for that."

Klaich said students at Nevada’s four community colleges probably would not see any significant increase.

Fee increases won’t be up for action during the Board of Regents meeting later this month, but Rogers is going to recommend per-credit fee increases during his address to the board.

The largest battle, however, is expected to be with legislative leaders to free up funding for UNLV and UNR. For higher education leaders, the issue comes down to having more control over where their funding goes.

Currently, 64 percent of every tuition dollar is supposed to go the Legislature’s general fund coffers, and legislators determine what to fund with the money. College presidents determine where the other 36 percent goes.

But in the past two years, the state’s colleges gave only about 40 percent to the general fund, shorting the state about $12 million, according to Klaich.

That prompted legislators to rebuke the state’s colleges and remind them to pay the full 64 percent in the future — the equivalent of a "warning ticket," Klaich said.

He said he was grateful that legislators didn’t require the $12 million, which was largely spent on financial aid to students, to be paid back.

For higher education leaders, however, the issue will determine the future of Nevada’s two universities.

In the next two years, enrollment in the state’s colleges is expected to grow 1.9 percent, down from earlier growth projections of 5 percent. And fewer students means fewer tuition dollars.

That’s a problem at UNLV, which is hoping to become more focused on research, an expensive endeavor.

"We’re not expanding programs at this point in time," UNLV’s vice president for finance, Gerry Bomotti, said. "I think we’ll have to do a little belt-tightening."

That leaves university leaders to look to students to foot more of the bill.

UNLV President David Ashley said he wouldn’t support any per-credit fee increases if the state takes 64 percent of it.

And Rogers said he wanted 100 percent of any increase to be kept by the university.

"If tuition is $2,000, and we raise it to $3,000, we’d keep the $1,000," Rogers said.

Rogers said students would be more inclined to stomach a fee increase if they knew the money would go back to them through services and student aid.