Audit of Nevada State College turns up several ‘silly’ mistakes

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

An audit of Nevada State College's beginning months show that former President Richard Moore's administration made several "silly" and even illegal mistakes, current President Kerry Romesburg said.

Romesburg, who said he corrected many of the mistakes when he took over three weeks into the college's first semester in September 2002, chalked them up to growing pains that any start-up school would experience.

Most of the mistakes, including waiving application fees without the Board of Regent's approval and handing out book scholarships by lottery, were unintentional and caused primarily by inexperience and pressure to quickly recruit students, Romesburg said.

"All of these things, not that they can be forgiven, but they can be explained with a brand-new school and no procedures in place," Romesburg said.

The audit reviewed the college's practices from July 1, 2002, through Feb. 28, 2003, which covers part of the school's initial recruitment and its first semester.

Moore, now a tenured economics professor at the college, resigned amid controversy in February 2002. Professor Christine Chairsell opened the school as interim president. Moore did not return calls for comment.

Romesburg said Moore waived the $25 application fee for at least 40 students in an attempt to recruit people for the college.

The Legislature had budgeted for 500 students to enroll in the college's first semester; only 177 enrolled.

"With so few students at the beginning, they wanted to be nice to the new students, thank them for being pioneers," Romesburg said. "I can understand why they would want do to that, but they shouldn't have."

Most students paid the application fee and the loss was probably not more than $1,000, Romesburg said.

Other mistakes included admitting students before receiving their final transcripts and allowing students to make payments on their tuition without a formal contract. Students also applied for financial aid online without having to sign documents or verify the income reported on the applications.

Romesburg said the school was lucky that all students paid anyway.

As recommended by the audit, the college will develop many of its own policies as it works toward independent accreditation status, Romesburg said. All of the required changes are either already implemented or in the process of being implemented, he said.

Romesburg said he could not help but laugh when he found out the college gave out six book scholarships by lottery its first semester. He said there was such a limited amount of money that staff thought a lottery was the fairest way to give away the money.

But it was also illegal, Romesburg said. All students must now apply for financial aid by filling out a FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a tool used by most colleges and universities to verify need.