Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.
With state money for higher education hard to come by, Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers is pushing Nevada's university leaders to bring in more outside money.
In repeated memos to regents and in conversations with institutional presidents, Rogers has mandated that everyone work together to secure more money from the private sector through direct donations, private-public partnerships, research grants and contracts.
The alternative, Rogers said, is that students will be forced to bear more of the burden of their education, because the Legislature will not be able to support the system's growth. Nevada residents currently pay about 25 percent of the cost of their classes at the undergraduate level.
"You have to be realistic and understand that the state is only going to do so much," Rogers said. "And that is a universal truth happening all across the country as the public decides they want students to pay for their (higher) education -- especially professional degrees."
Presidents at the state's two universities heeded Rogers' call last week in their state-of-the-university addresses. University of Nevada, Las Vegas President Carol Harter and University of Nevada, Reno President John Lilley both made continued success in this area a priority.
New Community College of Southern Nevada President Richard Carpenter also addressed his college's cash-strapped finances in his speech to faculty last month and said he's looking at ways the college can supplement its professional training programs.
Currently, state dollars pay for about 31 percent of UNLV's operating budget and about 36 percent of UNR's budget, with the rest covered by outside research grants and contracts, student tuition and fees, sales and services such as housing, dining and space rental, and private gifts.
UNR brought in a record $121 million in outside research money last year, Lilley said during his speech, including $40 million from the University of Nevada School of Medicine. It is the fourth straight year that the university has surpassed the $100 million mark, Lilley said, and it was double what the university raised 10 years ago.
UNLV raised $73.4 million last year, Harter said, up almost $10 million from 2003 and triple what the university raised a decade ago.
To increase outside research dollars, both universities have offices established to help faculty members apply for grants for research and community outreach projects, directors of both research offices said.
"We are bringing in tens of millions of dollars -- $60 to $70 million a year -- in money we wouldn't have," Paul Ferguson, vice president of UNLV's division of research and graduate studies, said. "That buys equipment, supplies, pays for operating expenses, and supports cutting edge and competitive work that otherwise we would never be able to do in a state budget."
The foundations for both universities are also seeking more private dollars, the presidents said, and each brought in $30 million last year. Both universities are working on major campaigns, and both presidents talked about fund-raising in their state-of-the-university speeches.
UNLV signed a major public-private partnership to start a orthodontics program at the School of Dental Medicine in May that will bring in about $100 million over the next 30 years, Harter pointed out during her speech. She also launched a proposal for a major private-public partnership with local developers to revitalize Maryland Parkway along the campus's eastern border. The university raises $25 million to $35 million annually.
UNR's $30 million this past year is double that raised in 2003 and includes the university's largest gift on record -- $10 million for the new library Knowledge Center, Lilley said. That was a 19 percent increase in donors for the university, which has raised $15 million to $20 million annually on average over the last decade. Lilley made fundraising one of the university's top priorities for this next year in his state-of-the-university address.
The two universities have it easier than the state's other institutions in raising private money, system leaders said. Whereas the universities raised $30 million each, CCSN, the state's largest institution, raised only $1.4 million through its foundation last year.
The state's community colleges don't have the alumni loyalty or the athletic programs that bring in donations, Buster Neel, UCCSN vice chancellor of finance and administration, said.
But Carpenter, CCSN's president, said he believes the community college can do a better job of bringing in more private money.
Carpenter said that if CCSN can partner more with the the the "employers who are buying their product," -- those who hire the college's graduates -- those employeers will help them to make sure that the product is the "top of the line to benefit their bottom line."
The foundation raised $1 million from telecommunications employers for a new building at the Cheyenne Campus and is working to raise private money for a new auto technology facility, Diana Wilson, executive director of the CCSN Foundation, said.
But to raise more money, Carpenter said the college must first clean up its poor image in the community, which Rogers and regents have said is needed for the system as a whole.
"It really comes down to the board members and the chancellor and the university presidents and the college presidents going out to the community and showing the community the importance of higher education," Regent Chairman Stavros Anthony said. "It's getting people excited about higher education, and if you do that a lot of people will open up their wallets."
It also takes state support of higher education to earn that public buy-in, system leaders said.
Both Rogers and Neel said they believed that the struggling Nevada State College would be able to make significant strides in bringing in outside resources if the Legislature will first help them "get the first building out of the ground."
Nevada State College Foundation members have said the lack of support from lawmakers has scared many donors away, as the 2001 Legislature demanded the college raise $10 million for its first building. The foundation has only been able to raise $1 million for the cost, and Rogers is asking for the state to foot the rest.
Nevada State College Foundation has raised $1.4 million to offset operating costs since the college's inception, Foundation secretary Heather Nelson said. Faculty have also brought in $500,000 in grant money for an accelerated nursing program and $200,000 for a visual media degree.
For his part, Rogers said he has several "deals in the works," including a major private-public partnership to expand the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He is also looking at ways to narrow the funding gap at the Community College of Southern Nevada, which receives about $3,000 less per full-time student than the other community colleges in the state. Some regents have suggested that local governments bear some of that burden through a tax initiative.
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