UNR-UNLV disparity shrinks

Friday, Oct. 1, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

Last year, UNR got $3,160 more per student in state funding and registration fees than UNLV. This year, the Reno campus got $3,024 more for every full-time student than its Las Vegas counterpart.

The funding change was disclosed in university system budget documents and fall enrollment figures from both campuses.

While the shift means a $136 gain for UNLV, university President Carol Harter says the southern Nevada campus has a long way to go before catching up to UNR.

"We take two steps forward and one step back," Harter said Thursday. "We continue to struggle."

But, she added, "Imagine how much worse off we would have been if we didn't have the equity funding from the Legislature this year."

Earlier this year, a study of the differences between UNR and UNLV concluded that all but $534 of the north-south gap was justified because of differences in UNR programs, its higher graduate-degree productivity, as well as the campus' age and inventory of buildings.

UNR President Joe Crowley and interim system Chancellor Tom Anderes pointed to the $534 figure as the one more deserving of attention. But Harter hopes an upcoming study will show that UNLV and UNR have more similarities than differences.

To respond to long-held concerns about the funding differences, the 1999 Legislature allocated an extra $1.86 million to UNLV. Lawmakers said they'd continue work on the equity issue in the 2001 session.

Crowley said the equity issue is "still a live topic," but lawmakers will be faced with bigger issues in 2001, namely keeping up with increasing demand by a growing number of high school graduates.

"The larger issue for all of us may be how the state is going to develop an appropriate base of resources to match the growth," Crowley said. "We're going to have to deal with the equity issue in the context of a high-growth situation."

In other words, university regents and Nevada lawmakers will have two tough problems to solve at the same time, he said.

UNLV's preliminary enrollment report shows 16,156 full-time students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate classes this fall. The university's operating budgets this year for general programs is $131.36 million, or about $8,131 per student.

UNR officials expect the Reno campus enrollment to approach 9,500. The university's operating budgets this year for general programs is $106 million, or about $11,155 per student.