Senate committee considers study of Henderson college

Jennifer Coleman

Friday, May 21, 1999 | 9:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY - A Senate panel has been asked to OK a $500,000 study on whether to include state colleges in Nevada's higher education plan - and whether Henderson is the right place for the first campus.

AB220, by Assemblyman Richard Perkins, was heard Thursday by the Finance Committee. The bill appropriates $500,000 for a needs assessment and a plan for the college in Henderson, which will soon surpass Reno as the second largest city in Nevada.

Supporters say they're confident the study will prove that adding a state college to the system will help Nevada cope with its growing population. They add that state college baccalaureate students can be educated at about half the cost per pupil than their counterparts in the university system.

"Research and graduate programs drive the costs up because of the necessary advanced facilities for those programs," Perkins, D-Henderson, said.

A state college wouldn't have to build or maintain high-cost science or engineering research facilities and the instructors at state colleges usually teach about twice as many classes and are generally paid less than their university counterparts, he added.

University regents haven't taken a position on a new college in Henderson but supports studying the prospect, said Richard Jarvis, chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

Perkins said that attracting students away from the universities to a state college will allow the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to dedicate more resources to their most important functions: advanced degree programs and research.

Funneling undergraduate students into a state college will help alleviate some of the pressures on the university system and won't cost the state anymore than it would to keep those students at UNLV, he said.

Perkins says the college to be built in Henderson because that city is accessible by car or bus from all areas around Las Vegas and it's safer than the neighborhoods surrounding UNLV.

Millions of dollars in private donations and at least 200 acres of land donated by the city of Henderson are already lined up to begin the project.

"This isn't meant to be a college just for students who live in Henderson. It would be a college for all Nevada students," he said.

Assemblywoman Sandra Tiffany, R-Henderson, joined Perkins at the hearing.

"It could be a center for teacher training and health care training," she said. "It's our opportunity for economic diversity and economic development."