Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008 | midnight
Days before the state's legislators met for a special session to close a $340 million budget gap, a new study gave Nevada failing grades on the higher education opportunities it provides its residents.
The nonprofit National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, which advocates for higher education, gave the state F's in participation, completion and affordability of schooling in Nevada's public colleges and universities. Nevada received a D in the benefits higher education brings to the state's economy, partly because of the low participation.
The news was timely, as Chancellor Jim Rogers advocated for 25 percent tuition increases to help protect higher education from state budget cuts. The Board of Regents on Dec. 4 wisely turned down that solution, for the next semester anyway, but fees for many courses will go up right away, and fall could bring much higher tuition for all classes.
On Dec. 8, the Legislature in its special session cut $4 million from the higher education and took $5 million from the Millennium Scholarship Trust Fund to pay the state's bills through the rest of the fiscal year.
Already, according to the study, middle-class Nevada families have to pay 25 percent of their income to send a child to state colleges and universities, and that is after financial aid.
Tough choices have to be made in hard times, but to further gut programs that encourage young adults to continue their education is jeopardizing the state's future.
We encourage the Legislature, when it convenes for its regular session in February, and the Board of Regents to keep higher education affordable for middle and lower-income families. The higher salaries the children of these families will be able to make as a result will benefit the entire state.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy