Big gap seen in college salaries

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Starting salaries for new faculty at UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada lag behind their counterparts in Northern Nevada, a new report says, adding fuel to the arguments that the schools in Clark County are being shortchanged.

The information, presented Tuesday to the Committee to Study the Funding of Higher Education, and interim legislative panel, showed the average pay for a new faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno, is $60,953 compared to $56,511 at UNLV. At the Community College of Southern Nevada the beginning salary is $42,878, which is nearly $5,000 lower than community colleges in Reno and Carson City.

"This must be corrected," UNLV President Carol Harter said.

Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas complained that the present funding formula perpetuates and worsens the disparity, which leads to an issue of quality education with good professors taking the jobs that pay the most.

The salaries for beginning faculty at UNLV and UNR were the same at $44,304 in fiscal year 1993. But when the state hit an economic downturn, all state agencies and the university system were asked to conserve.

Harter, who was not president then, said UNLV made a mistake by returning its merit pay allotment to the state, allowing salaries to remain stagnant for that period.

"During the next six years we had to live with that and it affected new positions," she said.

Because a school's budget is based in part on the average salary of the faculty, the lower UNLV average salary means lower starting pay for new professors and other staff.

"Our institution should not be held hostage for the rest of time," Harter said.

The report to the committee showed that in 1996 the disparity between starting salaries at UNR and UNLV was about $3,500, and it has widened to more than $4,500 for next fiscal year.

Larry Eardley, budget director for the University and Community College System of Nevada, said the Board of Regents has requested the Legislature to equalize the beginning salaries. But according to the rules of the budget, that must be considered an "enhancement," not a regular budget item. The Legislature has not appropriated the money to equalize the beginning salaries.