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Regent Michael Wixom, right, listens to budget-cutting options during a Board of Regents meeting Tuesday at the College of Southern Nevada.
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun Coverage
Sun Archives
- Chancellor: Budget cuts would undo ‘decade of significant progress’ (2-2-10)
- Higher education faces greatest financial state of emergency in decades (2-2-10)
- With state cuts, how long can teacher salaries be spared? (1-26-10)
- Gibbons to call special session, lawmakers plan public meetings (1-25-10)
- New economic reality: Pessimism (1-23-10)
- State budget comes up $800 million short (1-22-10)
- Forecast: Economy will begin to rebound in mid-2011 (1-22-10)
- Gibbons’ no-talk order further divides branches (1-22-10)
- Special session may require help of state Supreme Court (1-10-10)
- College students band together, rally against budget cuts (1-22-2009)
- Chancellor calls Nevada schools a ‘disaster’ (1-22-2009)
- UNLV fundraising campaign falls short, so deadline extended (12-18-2008)
- Emotional farewells at Regent’s meeting (12-5-2008)
- Rogers to budget cut protestors: Glad you’re here (12-4-2008)
- Fee hikes may become too steep to endure (12-4-2008)
- UNLV fundraisers fighting to the finish (9-1-2008)
- With that pay, no way, many would-be graduate students tell UNLV (5-11-2008)
- Some say setting fees every two years gives universities a blank check (2-16-2008)
Beyond the Sun
This is how bad the news is getting for Nevada’s already-pummeled higher education system.
To absorb an immediate reduction in state funding of $37 million and the loss of another $110 million in the next fiscal year, the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents on Tuesday was presented with an almost unfathomable choice of options.
Some were so extreme as to not be likely, but illustrate the size of the budget hole:
• Close Nevada State College and the College of Southern Nevada.
• Close the Boyd School of Law, UNR's School of Medicine, UNLV’s dental school, the Desert Research Institute, Great Basin College and Truckee Meadows Community College.
• Eliminate UNR and UNLV athletics and the Agricultural Experiment Station at UNR and close Nevada State College, Great Basin College, Truckee Meadows Community College and Western Nevada College.
More realistically, but still extreme, are these money-saving scenarios:
• Cut everyone’s pay, systemwide, by 20 percent.
• Force all employees to take off another five days per month without pay.
• Lay off 1,290 employees and decrease enrollment by 15,570 students, a 14 percent drop from 2009 enrollment.
The staggering options stem from the latest estimates of how much money is coming to the state — it’s still dropping — and how higher education can shoulder its share of cutbacks.
Chancellor Don Klaich told regents the options represent an “unwinding of almost a decade of significant progress in higher education.”
“Make no mistake,” he said. “Higher education in Nevada is changing, and not for the better.
“We will lose our competitive edge ... and add to the already crushing burden of unemployment in this state,” Klaich said. “We will lose the ability to train the workforce for the very economy we wish to attract to this state.”
Klaich said he has met with presidents of the colleges and universities this winter and has been encouraging them to prepare reports outlining the effect of budget cuts of 8 percent, which was what was considered a reasonable estimate at the time of what the governor would be asking of higher ed.
But then the Economic Forum met Jan. 22 and concluded that the state was hurting even more. “I think our collective breath was taken away, and our planning to date became moot on that terrible Friday afternoon,” Klaich told the regents.
At the regents meeting — which drew such a large audience at the College of Southern Nevada’s West Charleston campus that an overflow room was used — the board weighed the prospect of declaring a financial exigency, meaning there’s not enough money to meet expenditures. Doing so would give individual college and university presidents more leeway in cutting staff and programs.
The regents can only vote on such action after a recommendation from the chancellor with input from the council of campus presidents. Klaich said although it’s important for the regents to be aware of the size of the financial crisis, and the possible responses, a decision can wait until the March meeting, after lawmakers have met in a special session and higher ed’s funding levels are more clear.
UNR President Milton Glick said to his knowledge Nevada would be the first higher education system in the nation to be forced to take such drastic measures and would become the case study for fiscal failure in academia.
“We would be the poster child,” Glick said. “That’s a terrible burden.”
CSN is feeling the effects of budget cuts in ways big and small — with forced days off, crowded classrooms, added work assignments and, in student Maria Carrillo’s Astronomy 101 class, reliance on an overhead projector because there’s not enough money for class handouts.
Of more concern to her, Carrillo said, is the prospect of fewer classroom seats. “It’s going to get more competitive,” said Carrillo, who wants to study criminal justice and become a prosecutor. “We’re not only going to have to compete against other people who want to go to college, we’re going to compete against the students who are already here and are trying to stay.”
Editor’s note: this story was modified to clarify the budget-cutting options.
CORRECTION: This story was changed to correct that the School of Medicine is at UNR. | (February 3, 2010)
"UNR President Milton Glick said to his knowledge Nevada would be the first higher education system in the nation to be forced to take such drastic measures and would become the case study for fiscal failure in academia."
That means that Glick is ignorant. Many states are making big cuts to higher education. Many states have already cut higher ed salaries and laid-off higher ed workers.
Below are just a few samples.
Please note the similar hype that each state says about its higher ed cuts.
"UNR President Milton Glick said to his knowledge Nevada would be the first higher education system in the nation to be forced to take such drastic measures and would become the case study for fiscal failure in academia."
That means that Glick is ignorant or a liar (most likely the latter).
Please note the similar verbiage that each state says about its higher ed cuts.
California: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2009/aug/05/bud...
"No state is cutting more deeply than California, which has more than 3 million students attending college."
"The schools have responded by boosting fees, turning away record numbers of students, expanding class sizes, eliminating programs, laying off staff, and furloughing professors and other employees."
Virginia: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jan201...
"The budget also calls for a 26 percent reduction in funding for public colleges and universities."
Utah: http://www.sltrib.com/education/ci_14234...
"It is very likely that the Board of Regents will have to declare a financial emergency for one or more institutions, damaging our state's reputation for its commitment to education which has its own set of long-term consequences," Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg wrote in letter to appropriations subcommittee members. "
United Kingdom: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/239a1cb6-ffc6-...
"With cuts on the horizon that could total 2.5bn -- or a third of current annual spending -- the Russell Group of 20 leading universities has warned that "it has taken more than 800 years to create one of the world's greatest education systems, and it looks like it will take just six months to bring it to its knees"."
New York - http://www.nysut.org/cps/rde/xchg/nysut/...
"Devastating," said Andy Sako, president of the Faculty Federation of Erie Community College and a NYSUT at-large director representing community colleges. "I don't know how we can continue to do an effective job of training displaced workers in our community without proper support. This is going to cripple us, I think."
Washington State - http://www.budgetandpolicy.org/schmudget...
"Higher education and worker training would be hit particularly hard, with a 23 percent cut in total."
If the Board of Regents want to seriously consider what to cut out of the University System, should they not now consider dropping all NCAA Interscholastic Competitions. The idea that a state university system should be the minor league training ground for future pro sport stars in Football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Boxing or whatever is now defunct. This state, especially in light of the current economic climate, can ill afford this luxury of a 'fairyland, fantasy dream' of Nevada Universities making it big in athletic competition against larger schools from more populous states.
UNLV recently hired a new AD and head football coach and staff at unbelievable salaries, with rich bonuses and hefty buy-out contracts just waiting to be claimed. Yet, the public in all of its ignorance and lack of interest in true academic education say, "wonderful, it's great." And, for what? To allow a handful of students to be the pawns of professional sports empires at the expense of taxpayers. Just what have, and do, the professional sports organizations who reap the benefits of our minor league training teams actually contribute to this state? I am yet to hear of any financial assistance for the training of athletic students, pay for coaches or in building local facilities from the NFL, MBA, MLB organizations?
These major league organizations have even shied away from building major sports arenas, coliseums or stadia here in Las Vegas because of the fear that it would not be a financial gain for them. What real benefits to students and taxpayers alike have these major sports empires really contributed to our local economy? Oh, occasionally we have a second rate, poorly attended football bowl game, an exhibition game from MLB for a couple of days, and even an occasional exhibition game from the NBA.
Maintain the best of what there is and trim from the rest.
UNLV has begun to gain critical mass on its way to the top of major American college circles. Their importance to the Las Vegas community is as significant as any other asset the city possesses.
If UNLV salaries are out of line with national averages, maybe they could be brought in line. However, expansion of the school rather than contraction would be in the best interest of this city.
President Glick should do his research before making false statements. Nevada will NOT be the first state with a university to file financial exigency.
Instead of gloom and doom, the presidents should take a positive attitude that they can cut all of the waste that they inherited from previous administrations and then have the opportunity to rebuild in a few years with a new strategic direction and with the ability to make education affordable for future generations. Of course, this hurts in the short term, but it's probably best in the long term.
Are we really supposed to feel sorry for UNLV? It was only a few months ago tha Smatresk spent $500k on raises and promotions for staff members:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov...
http://www.writeonnevada.com/2010/02/hig...
Higher ed can survive the budget cuts and come out just fine. Remember these cuts are a fraction of a fraction of their total spending.
In 2006, UNR spent $30,290 per pupil
UNLV spent $16,537 per pupil.
Less than $15,000 per pupil at UNR was spent on "student related expenditures" while about $9,600 at UNLV was spent on "student related expenditures"
http://www.npri.org/docLib/20091012_2007...
PS, technology will push higher education out the door, much like it has done the traditional newspaper. They better start innovating solutions now or face the consequences later.
MIT and Harvard already offer free courses online. While you can't get credit it is only a matter of time before you can earn a degree at very little cost from prestigious universities like this (frankly the hyperinflation in higher education is unsustainable and technology will pop the bubble).
http://npri.org/publications/real-soluti...
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (commonly known as Virginia Tech) faced a budgetary problem a few years ago, and it figured out how to solve the problem rationally. Unfortunately, many universities do not address budget situations rationally, often ignoring the cost of educating students and/or the relative demand for courses. Budget cuts also often elicit internecine warfare among academicians.
Virginia Tech's math department solved its problem when facing budget cuts by leasing a bankrupt department store's retail space and converting it into a math computer lab. The price was $3 a square foot. Compare that to UNLV's recent addition, Greenspun Hall, which cost $780 a square foot.
Virginia Tech didn't stop there. Dr. Michael Williams, a math professor at the university, designed computer learning modules that allowed students to attend the lab and take the course without the need of a full-time professor always present. The module also gives students quizzes, and if students answer questions incorrectly, the computer directs them to the appropriate material. Class time is marked by students learning at their own pace, rather than the pace of the professor's lecture -- and students are free to stay and learn as long as they like. The classroom is also monitored by graduate students who assist students when necessary, freeing up the higher-paid, full-time professors to teach higher-level math.
According to Kevin Carey of the independent think tank Education Sector, Virginia Tech reduced the cost of educating students in some math courses by as much as 75 percent.
Virginia Tech and Dr. Williams figured out a way to reduce classroom costs while lowering teaching costs simultaneously. If technology can bring down the cost of so many goods and services, and the cost of education at Virginia Tech, why can't this work in Nevada?
It seems to me that short term, we can all save our money and our SUV's and let higher education die completely because every cent counts and we don't all have children in the system. Education is a luxury, after all, not a right. Let the lower classes get jobs parking cars and the upper classes can simply send their kids out of state.
Of course, this means that everyone intelligent enough or wealthy enough to get an education then goes to work for another state, and businesses who want to hire educated workers will look elsewhere, and our children who do go through the public system will be educated by those who don't have the means to go elsewhere. So the short term solution leads to long term problems that just keep getting worse.
Fortunately, we can't get any lower - every report on Higher Education shows Nevada as either last or next to last. If America was a classroom, we are the dumb kid in the back picking his nose and making fart jokes. If you plan on leaving, maybe this doesn't matter. If you plan on staying, you can either wait for tourists to come back (and then whine when they leave again) or make an investment and force the government to be accountable for that investment. Enough is enough.
Berg, Your comment sounds like a little girl whining. There are always constructive solutions; only babies add dumb comments like this that have nothing to offer.
Berg,
Nevada's education system does some things very poorly and spending more money doing the same thing won't get them to improve.
That said, despite our poor quality education, Nevada still has one of the highest per capita incomes and one of the lowest poverty rates in the nation.
That means we have an economy where low-skilled and undereducated people can still get ahead in life. That is a good thing. Fixing our education troubles should make life even better.
I can't disagree more with the Gibbons-like proposals to just cut education funding. University's need money to pay teachers, staff, conduct research, purchase library materials, etc.
And, while there may be areas where the University can cut, how horrible is it that major programs like the law school and medical school are on the chopping block?
I hope that the Governor and the Legislature are able to build a budget that doesn't destroy an already weakened University system.
Start by closing the law school. There are enough ambulance chasers in Nevada
Umm, we don't need a med school, but we need more humanities majors!