New crusade for UNLV, CCSN funding starts

Christina Littlefield

Monday, June 5, 2006 | 7:17 a.m.

Like biblical prophets railing to the deaf, Southern Nevada college presidents have been blowing the same trumpet for years:

Their institutions are woefully underfunded. But this time, the Board of Regents may be listening.

Regents are considering requesting new money from the 2007 Legislature to help close the funding gap at the Community College of Southern Nevada and at UNLV.

As part of a sweeping $132 million budget increase and a one-time injection of additional funds, regents are considering asking the 2007 Legislature to add $10 million a year to CCSN's base budget and $6 million a year to UNLV's base budget.

The moves would bring both up to par with funding levels at similar institutions.

"I think it is desperately needed, to give them a chance," Regent Steve Sisolak said, following a meeting Thursday in which regents reviewed the budget requests. "There comes a time when rubber hits the road: Are we just talking the talk or we are going to walk the walk?"

A legislative study conducted during the 2003-2004 school year found that CCSN was operating at a subsistence level, receiving $3,000 less per full-time student than other community colleges in the state, and at least $1,300 less per student than comparable colleges across the country.

UNLV is underfunded by $700 to $1,300 per full-time student when compared to same-sized research universities across the country.

The gap began when growth at the two Las Vegas institutions outpaced funding. The formula is based on student enrollment, but lags by three years.

When campus presidents complained about the inequity, they found themselves butting up against stingy state lawmakers.

And so the funding gap grew. In 1999 a Board of Regents equity study found that it would cost $15.2 million a year to close the gap. In 2003-2004 a trio of consultants hired by the Legislature found that it would take $17.5 million. Today, the shortfall at CCSN is at least $21.4 million.

UNLV is underfunded by $13.2 million to $36 million, depending on what other research institutions it is compared to and whether those institutions have a dental school or not.

The request before regents would only cut those gaps in half, said outgoing UNLV President Carol Harter and CCSN President Richard Carpenter. Still they are grateful that regents are taking the problem to Carson City.

Regent Michael Wixom described student success, research and the health sciences initiative as three separate trains, each essential to improving higher education in Nevada.

The challenge that higher education lobbyists will face is keeping the health science train from colliding with or derailing the others in the competition for money.

"We are behind the curve in all three areas," Wixom said. "We are playing catch up."

With $742 million in requests - and the wish list is growing - it appears that regents are grabbing for everything they can, Wixom said.

In reality, all three missions have hit a critical juncture at the same time.

Chancellor Jim Rogers won't say how he would prioritize the three separate areas because he did not want to give lawmakers any opportunities to start making cuts.

Regents do prioritize the capital budget request list, and during the 2005 Legislature a science and math building for UNR that Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, wanted was at the bottom.

Raggio kept asking Rogers why it was at the bottom, and Rogers said he replied, "What does it matter if you give me all the money?"

Rogers' strategy worked: The building and almost everything above it on the list ended up being funded.

Most of the $10 million requested each year for CCSN would be used to improve student services with an emphasis at helping students to complete their associate degrees and transfer to either Nevada State College or UNLV.

Money would pay for more advisers and counselors, Carpenter said. Right now, the college has 27 advisers to serve 35,000 students, he said.

The college also needs money to increase class and program offerings to meet student needs, especially online. Enrollment growth has stalled because CCSN does not have enough funding or space, Carpenter said.

Once lawmakers see the needs, they won't be able to deny the requests, said Regent James Dean Leavitt during a task force meeting Tuesday on the academic health science center.

Sen. Bernice Matthews, D-Reno, who sits on the finance committee, disagreed. Saying no, she quipped, has "never bothered us before."