Friday, Nov. 17, 2006 | 6:55 a.m.
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Hoping to avert the potential loss of more than $55 million for the 2007-2009 biennium, Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Jim Rogers is once again asking state lawmakers to find ways to provide more, not less, money for the system.
In his third annual state of the system address, scheduled for 7 a.m. today at the Four Seasons Hotel, Rogers will ask lawmakers to set a timetable for increasing funding to the state's higher education system and to re-evaluate how they allocate tuition dollars.
Nevada's universities and colleges receive state funding under a formula based on national per-student costs at similar public institutions. Nevada lawmakers, however, pay the state's universities only 84 percent of that average cost.
"We simply cannot fund our colleges and universities at a fraction of the average and expect excellence," Rogers writes in his speech.
Rogers wants lawmakers to establish a plan to gradually increase funding to 100 percent of that formula.
In the next legislative session, because of slower than expected enrollment growth, the state's universities and colleges risk losing millions from their current budgets if the formula is not increased to at least 89 percent.
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The Legislature requires most of the money raised through tuition to go into state coffers to offset that funding. That policy has kept universities from raising their tuition - roughly $3,500 per academic year for in-state students, and about four times higher for out-of-staters - to improve the quality of education, Rogers said in an interview this week.
He believes that students who can pay more in tuition should. Student leaders have said they believe students would be willing to pay more if they can see direct improvement in their education.
A rise in tuition would come with a similar increase in financial aid to help the students who cannot afford it, Rogers said.
"We are very concerned about us pricing ourselves out of business, but we also want to make sure we are not underpriced," Rogers said.
His speech also reiterates his call for private entities to invest in higher education.
Rogers has consistently sought more money since taking office in May 2004, giving speeches to politicians and businesspeople two to three times weekly about the needs of higher education.
He made his first request for lawmakers to address the funding formula at a keynote breakfast in January 2005, and started floating his tuition ideas last January. Lawmakers ignored Rogers' request in the 2005 session.
The question is whether Rogers' self-described "bullish" ways and refusal to prioritize higher education's budget wish list will pay off in the 2007 Legislature.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said both the funding formula increase and the issue of how much tuition money is returned to the state are on the table for discussion.
"They are worthy goals, but they are affected by limited funding," Raggio said.
Lawmakers have a funding surplus this year but face a cap on how much they can spend because of a 1979 law that limits government spending to population growth plus inflation. The upcoming session will mark the first time that the cap has come into play.
Higher education officials said in interviews that many of the enhancement requests on the system's budget - including money for research at UNLV and to address funding inequities at the Community College of Southern Nevada - will be discarded this spring in favor of increasing the formula percentage to 89 percent.
That increase, in addition to erasing the possible $55 million loss, could actually produce a funding increase for some institutions.
Increasing the formula is everyone's "single highest priority," said Dan Klaich, the system's executive vice chancellor and the man in charge of its lobbying efforts.
Enrollment surged from 2000 through 2004 with the advent of the Millennium Scholarship, but that growth has tapered off because of the universities' tougher admission standards and lack of space to keep taking more students.
Failure to meet budgeted enrollment projections means UNLV, UNR, Community College of Southern Nevada and Truckee Meadows Community College could see major budget cuts if the funding formula percentage is not increased, higher education officials said.
UNLV will see its budget cut by about $22 million from the current 2005-2007 biennium, said Gerry Bomotti, vice president for finance. Deans have been instructed to look at possible ways to cut costs.
Outgoing Gov. Kenny Guinn's preliminary budget recommendation includes only a 1 percent increase in the formula funding and about $15 million to help universities make up for the loss in enrollment. In making his proposal, Guinn was restricted by the spending cap.
Gov.-elect Jim Gibbons also will be bound by the cap. And although the Legislature could waive the spending restriction, the attendant political challenges make that a doubtful proposition.
Rogers, though, hopes that the Legislature will come through, and has refused to speculate on what will or won't receive funding.
His taped speech will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Rogers' television stations in Las Vegas (KVBC Channel 3) and Reno.
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