Regents could request up to $150 million

Saturday, March 18, 2006 | 7:10 a.m.

To answer the question you asked, dear Nevada legislators, the state university system can indeed improve and it can do so quickly. All you have to do is open the state's wallet.

Members of the regents budget committee got their first look this week at the Nevada System of Higher Education's response to a request from the Legislature two years ago. What would it take to boost the quality of the state's colleges and universities?

The answer is a $150 million whopper of a wish list for program enhancements and so called one-shot items, in addition to the system's $580 million in requests for capital construction.

Regents and other higher education officials know that lawmakers aren't about to pay for it. But if nothing else, educators say, it gives lawmakers a clear vision of the need and may lead to valuable discussions in coming years.

"The opportunities for these are not great, but I also think it is our job to put forward what we believe we need," said Dan Klaich, executive vice chancellor and general counsel.

"These may be more philosophical statements rather than budget realities, but we think they are important to talk about."

The total for enhancements and one-shots include $87 million for programs to improve student retention and graduation rates, $48 million for research and economic development and $15 million for projects related to the University of Nevada School of Medicine and other health science needs.

All of the numbers, especially for the medical school, are ballpark figures and are still being refined, Klaich said. Regents will not vote on the list until June, and they are looking at separating out the needs for the health science center so that need does not overwhelm other requests.

The requests are in response to a 2004 legislative report looking at the state of higher education. A trio of outside consultants found that the Community College of Southern Nevada was severely under funded and that UNLV needed major investment in its faculty and infrastructure if it was ever going to reach its goals of becoming a top research university.

A breakdown of the enhancements and one-shots includes $10 million a year to increase funding at the Community College of Southern Nevada and $10 million a year to improve UNLV's research status. In total, about $30 million would go to each of the two Southern Nevada schools to address major funding inequities that have been overlooked by lawmakers in the past.

CCSN President Richard Carpenter said the specific nature of the requests gives CCSN greater credibility.

"We're not just asking for more money," Carpenter said. "These are concrete things we are going to do."

Carpenter said it was significant that the system was even acknowledging the college's desperate need for funding. He got his first lesson in Nevada politics in January 2004 when he questioned the state's formula funding that paid CCSN about $3,400 less per full-time student than any other state community college.

Now, he said, for the first time "regents here acknowledged that there is a problem with the formula and one of our institutions has paid the price for it."

The enhancement list asks for $4.5 million to improve student advising services at all seven of the state's teaching institutions, with nearly $1 million a year each going to UNLV, CCSN and Nevada State College in Henderson. Regents believe extra advising will help to improve student retention.

The system is also requesting $17 million in one-time funds for a new system-wide integrated information software system and about $3 million to $4 million a year to be able to increase online class offerings. There's also a $7 million per year request to improve the pay of part-time instructors at all system institutions.

All of those needs will compete for money along with another major regent proposal: Improving the state medical school and getting an academic health sciences center off the ground. Regents approved a plan Friday to greatly expand the size and scope of the medical school.

John McDonald, dean of the medical school, proposed increasing the student body from 52 to 96, increasing the number of postmedical school residents and fellowships from 194 to 444, and increasing the faculty from 189 to close to 500 by 2015.

The medical school is going to reach its space capacity at 62 students, which it will hit during the 2006-2007 school year, McDonald said. To expand, the medical school will need new laboratory space, classroom space and office space.

The system is already looking at $150 million in capital construction requests during the 2007 Legislature to build a new medical education building in Reno and one in Las Vegas.

The medical school will also need an additional cash infusion from the Legislature starting in the 2007 session to increase its faculty and pay for residents. In 2009, the medical school will need another infusion to increase its student capacity.

How much all of that will cost is still up in the air, but the proposal to regents Friday estimated that the medical school's operating budget would increase from $137 to $307 million by 2016. More than 60 percent of that will be paid for by income from patient care and research grants generated by the larger faculty and student base, McDonald said. The state would have to increase its own contributions over the next 10 years, from $27 million now to $53 million.

And because it will take a year or two for the new faculty to be able to generate revenues to cover their salaries, the medical school may need more private and public money up front, McDonald said.

Consultant Greg Hart of the Minnesota-based LarsonAllen firm, said it will take a "patch-work quilt" of private and public money to get the medical school expansion started.

Chancellor Jim Rogers said he is working on a $150 million donation for the health science center. Outgoing UNLV President Carol Harter also suggested that the university may want to look at taking a bond measure to voters.

Regent Michael Wixom cautioned regents that they would need to carefully consider all of the projects it had on the table and decide which ones to push first.

"We need to count the costs of where we are going," Wixom said.

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@ lasvegassun.com.