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Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009 | 7:08 p.m.
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CARSON CITY – Up to 2,200 professors and instructors could leave Nevada’s higher education system if Gov. Jim Gibbons’ budget is adopted, a university official said Tuesday.
“We would lose our best and they would not be replaced” because of the proposed budget cuts, says Dan Klaich, executive vice chancellor of the system of higher education.
Presidents of the various universities and colleges appeared before the legislative budget committees to detail the effects on their campuses.
President David Ashley of UNLV said cutting faculty salaries by 6 percent and adding increased payments for health insurance would mean a loss of professors. There are presently 91 faculty positions vacant.
UNLV would lose $105 million a year under the Gibbons budget, he said. All of the professional schools could be closed and that would only cover 32 percent of the reduction, he said. Closing the three major colleges could mean only a 50 percent reduction.
The governor’s budget, Ashley said, has eliminated a $25 million appropriation to build the new Harrah’s Hotel College, which the casino company will match. “That’s a tragedy in my mind,” he said.
Klaich said Gibbons’ budget proposes a $475 million cut to the system. A university system can’t be run on those reductions, he said.
Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, described himself as the biggest supporter of the higher education system, but he told the school officials they need to make changes. Universities have created doctoral programs the state can’t afford, he said. There is a “mission creep” where colleges are offering some of the same things as the universities. Some colleges want to be four-year schools and he told the presidents, “You need to define the mission where you are going.”
The system also got some strong support. Sen. Warren Hardy, a Republican from Henderson, said, “I am not going to participate in the dismantling of higher education in Nevada.” But, he cautioned, there will be cuts in the budget of the system.
Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, echoed the comments of Ashley. “That’s not a good approach to higher education,” he said, calling the elimination of the $25 million in the budget “short sighted.”
“We’re not leveraging private funds,” he said.
Michael Richards, president of College of Southern Nevada, said all the schools in the system have been “starving” and have only been on a subsistence level of funding -- the lowest funding per student in the system.
The governor’s budget, Richard said, would mean the school could handle 12,000 full-time students and 18,000 students would be turned away. The school, he said, won’t have the resources and faculty to meet the demand.
The college, Richards said, is the “principal resource” for turning out nurses and law enforcement officers.
Fred Maryanski, president of the Nevada State College in Henderson, told the Senate Finance and the Assembly Ways and Means Committees, that the governor’s budget would mean the nursing program would be “severely cut.” About 90 percent of the nurses turned out by the school stay in Nevada.
Gibbons is recommending a two-year budget of $843.8 million, down 35.8 percent for the whole system. UNLV’s proposed budget of $161.6 million would be sliced by 54 percent during the coming two years.
The College of Southern Nevada’s proposed budget would be lowered to $130.1 million, a decline of 34.3 percent. Nevada State College in Henderson of $18.7 million would see a 43.9 percent drop.
Some president said that some tuition increases might be justified, but those increases would not address the budget gap.
The system says that the per credit fee for undergraduates at UNLV is now $136 and that would have to be raised to $315 in the first year and then up to $331 per credit in the second year of the biennium if the full load fell on students to solve the system’s budget shortage.
For graduate students, the present $217 per credit would have to be boosted to $427 by the end of the biennium at UNLV.
The present per credit fee at College of Southern Nevada is $60 and that would end up at $149 at the end of the two years. And for undergraduates at the Nevada State College, the per credit fee of $98 would be increased to $254 at the end of two years.
System Chancellor Jim Rogers told the budget committees this would not be the last time university officials lobbied. “We will continue to harass you and flood you with weekly memos.”
“When this is over I believe you will save the core values of the state,” he said.
Before the hearing, about 50 students demonstrated in front of the state Legislative Building in Carson City yelling slogans and carrying signs saying they could not afford a 300 percent increase in tuition.
Cy Ryan may be reached at (775) 687-5032 or cy@lasvegassun.com.
Do you really expect me to believe they will leave their 6 figures right now. NO! If they do - Bye! Unemployment pays up to 378.00 - good luck with that!
$331 per credit at UNLV? Assuming a 4 credit class plus $200 for the textbook, that's $1500 to take one class. The Sallie Mae sharks must be circling UNLV now. Oprah made the comment that students in the U.S. care more about iPods than about education, but a new iPod nano only costs $150. LOL
An exodus of people actually capable of rational thought might mean the governor's re-elected, which is probably the method behind his madness.
This is just wonderful. A sure fire way to turn out a workforce full of uneducated citizens is to make it impossible to get an education. I'm a current grad student at UNLV; however, it's safe to say that the moment tuition spikes that high, I'll be withdrawing from the university instantly.
To tbvegas:
In the Sciences, the people that will 'leave' will not be doing so to get an unemployment check. They will be leaving UNLV with their research grants to other universities.
Many of states, like California and Utah, are cutting their higher ed budgets. That means that are and will be layoffs in higher ed across the nation.
I doubt that many, if any, are increasing higher ed budgets.
I think a wise person should cling to their job and senority in this job market.
But its is right to act like a fool.
jfnance,
Unlike the business world, if someone 'moves' in higher ed, they usually do NOT lose their seniority. In fact, they often get hired where they will have more.
A student teacher ration of 1:20 with most classes having hundreds in lecture taught mostly by grad students.. It seems we could cut the staff by 50% and still not having any professor actually teaching 20 hours a week.
neiman, you obviously don't understand how those large classes work. The professor develops the tests, the labs/homework assignments, and develops then gives the lectures. For a professor to be hands on with 300+ students is completely unrealistic. Those TAs (actually called GAs) then teach the sections/labs. the actual number (your 1 to 20 RATIO is a gross mischaracterization) is closer to 1 to 5. The professor still has a lot of work. Often in the humanities the prof either has some higher admin functions to perform or they teach other classes. In the sciences they are often busy on research.
In certain humanities such as English where there are tons of freshman English classes to teach, those are mostly taught by GAs.
In any case, the GAs are of vital importance as a supporter of the profs. The profs are still highly important and are not lazy.
So either you are a freshman with a grudge or you have never entered a higher ed institution, let alone taught at one. Please keep your comments to the more factual instead of the fantasy that you want.
Aaahhh, the politics of fear.
It's alive!!!!
Mr. Jim Nance (jfnance32) states:
"But its is right to act like a fool."
It is right to act like a fool? I guess that explains the idiocy you continually display in your 3575 (and counting) posts to this site.
I don't think he's ever heard that feedback before. Not that it hasn't been said.