Scholarship funds coming from tuition increase

Debra D. Bass

Monday, April 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Ironic but true: Half the funds generated from an approved tuition increase this fall will be earmarked for scholarships so university and community college students can afford rising tuition costs.

Faced with year after year of tuition and fee increases, students can seek solace in the fact that university officials plan to direct much of the proceeds back to students.

The Board of Regents is expected to give a thumbs-up to the plan Thursday and Friday during its meeting at the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas.

After regents broke their promise to issue a moratorium on student fees in 1995, they quelled criticism by dedicating the increase to enhancing student services and meeting student equipment needs.

From 1995-97, university and community college tuition rose $6 per credit. All the proceeds were devoted to students, rather than faculty or administrators. Regents are set to continue devoting that $6 per credit to student services throughout the 1997-99 budget period.

In the meantime, tuition is set to rise $3 to $6 per credit, depending on which degree students are pursuing, by 1999. Half the proceeds will be used for "student access," which translates to grants and scholarships.

A full-time undergraduate at a university will be paying $66.50 a credit this fall -- a $2.50 increase.

Graduate students will be paying $90 a credit -- a $3 increase.

Community college students will be paying $38 a credit -- up $1.50.

Those increases will be mirrored the following fall.

By fall 1998, an undergraduate taking a full-load of classes (15 credits) will be paying $75 more each semester than a student this semester.

Compared with tuition rates in the fall of 1990, full-time undergrads will be expected to pay $345, or 50 percent more each semester by the fall of 1998.

Per-credit costs will have risen $23 a credit, while showing no sign of leveling off.

According to a recommendation from the chancellor's office last year, tuition will not exceed 25 percent of the per-student cost it takes to run higher education in Nevada, nor will it exceed the median cost of other universities and colleges in the West.

Tuition costs are being set to keep pace with inflation measured by the Higher Education Price Index plus 1 percent. The sentiment at the time was that the state's taxpayers are being asked to fork over more and more funds for higher education, so students should have to ante up more in a show of good faith and cost sharing.

During their Thursday-Friday meeting, regents will also review a slew of minor changes and increases in the collection of student fees for registration, residence halls, lab costs, correspondence classes and meal plans at each institution.

Despite escalating costs, the Community College of Southern Nevada, UNLV and Truckee Meadows Community College have surpassed modest enrollment projections. All three admitted more students than budgeted for this semester.