Nichols tells regents to use cash wisely

Friday, Aug. 15, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The University and Community College System of Nevada was the only higher education institution in the nation that received a double-digit percentage increase in its budget, and it will have to show the 2005 Legislature it used the money wisely, Chancellor Jane Nichols said Thursday.

She told the Board of Regents that Gov. Kenny Guinn and the Legislature made "significant contributions" to the system. Most of the new money goes to handle an expected growth of 14.4 percent in new students in the next two years.

The system's budget increased 24 percent in state funds for the biennium.

The action by the Legislature "belies the idea that we have a national reputation of not being committed to education," Nichols said.

Some states are raising student fees 30 to 40 percent to make up for shortfalls in government funding, while Nevada is increasing its fees per credit hour by only 4.5 to 8 percent, Nichols said.

The only school that received a budget reduction was the Nevada State College at Henderson. Nichols said in the 2005 Legislature, that college would be treated the same as the others, receiving money based on the number of students.

An area that is going to be examined is the teaching loads carried by professors. Regent Stavros Anthony said there has been a lot of criticism about the number of classes that professors teach at UNLV.

"The board should be taking the heat for the faculty workload," Anthony said.

He proposed and the board agreed to create a committee to examine faculty workloads at the universities and colleges and named Regent Jill Derby to head the group.

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