Editorial: New funding plan has merit

Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 | 7:13 a.m.

More than 60 percent of the money raised by tuition and fees paid by students at Nevada's universities and colleges does not stay on campus. The money, including $77 million at UNLV alone for the 2006 fiscal year, goes to the state treasury, as a partial return on the hundreds of millions the state budgets each year for higher education.

For Jim Rogers, chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, and for university and college officials in Southern Nevada, this system is partially responsible for perennial funding shortages. Rogers wants universities and colleges to keep more of the funding generated on their campuses.

A main problem with the current system, Rogers says, is that with the bulk of the money going back to the state, there is little incentive for the Board of Regents to approve more than token increases in tuition. While this may seem to benefit students, it actually hurts them in the long run. Without sufficient funds, campuses cannot add resources that would augment students' educational experiences. Also, there is little incentive for campuses to recruit out-of-state students, as every penny of their much-higher tuition goes back to the state.

Rogers understands that the state would likely reduce its annual funding to higher education, and would still take some portion of the fees and tuition, but believes that campuses would come out well ahead under his proposal.

With the Board of Regents and the Legislature in place to ensure that campuses do not get too carried away and raise tuition and fees by unreasonably high percentages, we see no harm in giving Rogers' plan serious consideration. For sure his plan would give university and college officials more immediate control over incoming money, a fact that could lead to more immediate improvements.