Sun editorial:

Provide fair funding

Study says budgets of Southern Nevada colleges get shorted by state lawmakers

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.

The budgets of UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada have long trailed those of their northern counterparts and need to be boosted, university officials say.

In a memo sent to the Board of Regents last month, outgoing Chancellor Jim Rogers said it was “fundamentally wrong” that Southern Nevada’s colleges receive only about half of the higher education budget when “Southern Nevada has 65 percent of the higher education system’s students.”

Rogers pointed to a report written by former UNLV President Carol Harter and Gerry Bomotti, the university’s vice president of finance and business, that demonstrates the disparity. They say each year the University of Nevada, Reno, receives about $2,200 more from the state per student than UNLV does. Harter and Bomotti say the Legislature should increase the budget to bring parity and then look at boosting funding for specific programs, including UNLV’s research work.

As reported in Tuesday’s Las Vegas Sun by Jean Reid Norman, UNR officials have questioned the study’s conclusion, and a debate over university funding has quickly blossomed.

This argument has the potential to become a divisive tug-of-war between the campuses, taking the focus off the real issue: higher education funding. Nevada has not put enough money into education.

For example, the University of California system, one of the premier examples of public education, spends $16,330 per student at campuses that are considered research universities. The California State University System, which is composed of teaching colleges, spends $8,708 per student. UNLV, which has been transforming itself into a research institution, receives $8,361 per student.

A decade ago the Legislature commissioned a study to look at university funding in other Western states. The study determined the average level of funding for universities, yet the Legislature has never matched it. Instead, the Legislature gives the university system about 85 percent of what the study considered adequate.

Key lawmakers say they are willing to reconsider the terribly flawed funding formula, and that would be a start. However, Nevada will get nowhere until the Legislature commits to funding education properly.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

By Patrick_R_Gibbons

7/1/09 at 8:27 a.m.

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Spending: http://npri.org/docLib/20090306_Fast_Fac...

Graduation rates: http://npri.org/docLib/20090306_Fast_Fac...
By Patrick_R_Gibbons

7/1/09 at 8:31 a.m.

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UNLV (2006)

Instructional spending per pupil: $6,184

Student related spending per pupil: $8,650

Education and general spending per pupil: $15,158
By NV1965

7/1/09 at 11:14 a.m.

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Here we go again. North versus South, campus v campus. Another round of misplaced emphasis. Shouldn't the question be rooted in how to make the state's higher education system more effective overall and not about what campus or unit gets what. For the State of Nevada, I want a great med school, a great education program, a great law school, great engineering programs, competitive athletic teams, attractive faculty, support for rural community education etc etc. If we believe that CSN, Great Basin and WNC have a well reasoned charter, why is comparing budgets towards equalizing dollars for UNR or UNLV the question or focus. The questions for higher education in Nevada about where to go and how to get there are starting from the wrong place. It is not a "fairness" issue.
By OpenRange

7/1/09 at 2 p.m.

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As a provider of unbiased information, the Sun's job is to investigate the facts before taking sides on controversial issues. I would love to know how the formula is "terribly flawed" as the Sun states without providing any direct evidence. Instead, the Sun is blatantly taking sides with an UNLV-generated study without getting off their duff to investigate the true funding issues. This editorial is not journalism, but a vehicle for disinformation. Maybe the Sun also needs to transform itself into a research institution.
By Patrick_R_Gibbons

7/1/09 at 4:30 p.m.

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This is an editorial page Mr. Range, this is where the editorial staff expresses their opinions. A bias is always to be expected with opinions and there is nothing wrong with that. Nevertheless, newspapers are free to be as biased as they want, especially if the business strategy is to capture the market share of liberal and left-of-center residents in Southern Nevada.
By reallyoldvegas

7/1/09 at 8:07 p.m.

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The NPRI data has UNR 25th and UNLV 190th in funding. There should be differences, but, my goodness, 25th versus 190th? I actually have a lot more trouble understanding how UNR can rate 25th in funding! Definitely not 25th in quality!