Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Monday, Oct. 18, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Nevada State College acting president to lobby Legislature (10-6-2010)
- Its leader gone, Nevada State College left in limbo (7-10-2010)
- Fred Maryanski remembered for dedication to Nevada State College, family (7-7-2010)
- Nevada State College President Fred Maryanski dies (7-2-2010)
- Regents umbrella will help shield higher education from budget cuts (3-20-2010)
- Supporters speak out for Nevada State College (2-17-2010)
- In throwback to 1960s, students plan walkout today to protest budget cuts (2-9-2010)
Sun Coverage
Beyond the Sun
On the administration building of Nevada State College in Henderson, the youngest and smallest college in the university system, is a big clock.
On a recent morning, it read 10:25 a.m. Except, it was actually 11:30.
These days, things are a little off at Nevada State, a scrappy, famished liberal-arts institution modeled after California state colleges that are midway between community colleges and elite research universities.
If a projected deficit of $3 billion for the next two-year state budget proves true, the focus may again turn to severe education cuts. And it raises the question of whether the Legislature, which holds the purse strings, will sacrifice fledgling Nevada State.
The move would orphan nearly 3,000 students, many of whom are older, low-income and have spread their education over more than four years because they work.
A C average in high school is sufficient for admission to Nevada State; the SAT examinations are not required. At $100 a credit for 120 credits to graduate, tuition is a relatively thrifty $12,000.
A majority of students are minorities and two-thirds are women. Many are attracted to Nevada State because of its programs in teaching and nursing.
“If they close, I’m moving to Texas, and Houston here I come,” said Karla Mitchell, 28, a nursing major with friends in Texas, “because I am done with Nevada.”
Although new public colleges in other states are funded with multimillion-dollar budgets: Arizona State University — West in Tempe launched with $10 million in seed money — Nevada State started in 2002 with state spending of just $625,000.
Today it has grown to $13 million, which pales to UNLV’s $172 million annual budget for more than 29,000 students.
In fact, Nevada State is considered the state’s most fragile institution in higher education. Its enrollment has wobbled, but stabilized recently. Funding is down; staff has been cut to the bone and the campus is recovering from the recent death of founding president Fred Maryanski.
James Dean Leavitt, chairman of the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, went out of his way at the August meeting to say Nevada State won’t be shut down. He stands by the pledge, even though the Legislature could force his hand. “I said it very deliberately,” he said last week, “on purpose, forthrightly.”
Still, university system officials are partly responsible for the death talk. As the state budget crisis worsened this year, the emphasis turned to education budget cuts of $147 million over two years.
Chancellor Dan Klaich
In February, Chancellor Dan Klaich laid out what such budget cuts would mean to higher education, including closing down Nevada State.
In the end, the Legislature found other ways to balance the budget and stepped back from Draconian cuts of 22 percent and put into effect still-severe cuts of nearly 7 percent for higher education.
But the idea of closing Nevada State stings. After the August regents meeting, Sebring Frehner, Nevada State’s student body president, asked Klaich urgent questions about the possible closure of the college.
Frehner said, in effect, the February worst-case scenario “must have been for show, right?” The chancellor assured him it was not.
Klaich, who confirms the account, said last week that he is obligated to inform the public with the best data, “if, in fact, the sky is falling.”
Klaich emphasized that closing Nevada State was raised under a 22-percent cut scenario, not the eventual 7 percent. When asked whether the budget crisis might be worse next year, Klaich replied, “I don’t know.”
Frehner said he got the impression that “the regents are holding back on the hatchet until they get the order that the hatchet is going to come down” from state lawmakers.
Joyce Woodhouse is a state senator who represents Henderson. If re-elected next month, she may return as chairwoman of the Education Committee, which will review education funding.
Woodhouse said that next February, when the Legislature convenes, will be different from last February when the regents considered shuttering Nevada State.
“Our budget deficit will be much worse,” she said, sighing audibly. “But I think what we have to keep in mind is that we have to provide the institutions for our young people to continue their schooling.
“We’ve probably cut into the bone already.”
She added, “The things that are nonessential we’ll have to cut them out, but, bottom line, education is essential.” She was not more specific.
Lesley DiMare
For her part, acting President Lesley DiMare is stoical. She was present at the meeting where Klaich discussed closing Nevada State.
“It’s always an unhappy thing to see that because of a deficit your campus is going to be affected,” she said recently. “It’s not productive to have your blood pressure go up and become so upset that you can’t keep your eye on the ball.”
The daughter of a factory-efficiency expert in Utica, N.Y., DiMare got her bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from California State University, Chico, and a doctorate in rhetoric from Indiana University. Her entire life has been in education, most recently at Arizona State University — West, where she was chairwoman of the communications department.
When she was recruited to Nevada State in 2007 to become provost, she saw possibility among the largely undeveloped 500 acres near a Hostess cupcake plant.
Nevada State’s administration buildings are near Henderson City Hall — five miles from the school’s two principal classroom buildings. There’s a third small classroom building near the administration buildings.
One of DiMare’s priorities is to construct a fourth building over the next several years, a 60,000-square-foot facility for the nursing program. At $35 million, 80 percent of it state funding, DiMare knows it is a challenge.
Woodhouse is cautious. “We can be show-ready” and plan for the nursing building, she said, “but I don’t know how long it will take.”
Keeping what Nevada State has is proving a greater challenge. The college’s funding has been slashed 28 percent to $13 million from $18.1 million when enrollment grew from 2,600 students to nearly 3,000 (fall enrollment figures this year aren’t available yet).
Andy Kuniyuki, a biology professor who is associate dean in the Liberal Arts & Sciences School, said its staffing has been reduced to 19 positions from 27, even as more students are taking classes.
“It is becoming harder,” he said. “Nevertheless, we are managing. We aren’t walking around as if we have a heavy black cloud over our heads.”
Mitchell agrees. Her fellow nursing students follow the news about state finances and Nevada State, but concentrate on their studies.
“The students here care, and mom and dad aren’t paying the bills,” she said. “We just go ahead and do our business.”
Nevada; Tearing down Education one brick at a time.
"Education??? We don't need no stinking Education!
People would just learn stuff; and THEN what would we do?"
"Become a Dishwasher, or a Valet...you can get "RICH"! Education will just hold you back!"
"Uneducated minds are MALLEABLE MINDS; We do not need you THINKING about stuff...that's DANGEROUS!"
The depression dominos continue to fall. Those who want the state to continue supporting things we can't afford must not grasp the gravity of this economic situation. Perhaps the protestors should offer some suggestions on just where the budget can be cut. If not education, then what?---hospitals? Fire and police pretection? National Guard? Roads and bridges? Something has to give, but what?
$12 k,is that out of state,unlv's like $1,300 per semester,
Kill it. NSC was a horrible Idea.
Maybe in the 21st century a new brick and mortar school can't compete with established schools. I think we need some new thinking about education in this state. Enough with the spend more money now lets worry about results later approach.
This is the second article I have read about NSC in the Las Vegas Sun which is poorly written and misleading. I challenge the author to provide critical information here.
1) A school's budget is not the same as the amount of revenue it gets from the state. The article suggests that readers should compare the $13 million NSC gets from the state with the $179 million budget at UNLV. What is NSC's annual budget? What does UNLV get from the state annually?
2) UNLV and NSC are not the same kind of institutions. Of course, a research university would have a larger budget per student, because it is providing research and graduate programs in addition to undergraduate training.
3) Where are the comparable numbers for CSN in all this? If the author wants to make a point about the three kinds of higher education institutions in southern Nevada, then provide the relevant information in ways that a reader can compare. What does each institution get from the state annually? How many individual students does each institution serve annually? How many full-time equivalent students does each institution serve? These numbers are easy to get, and they would allow readers to make their own judgments about whether or not Nevada taxpayers should be supporting all three institutions.
LKM - Incredible evaluation of the story and I really like your ideas on how to make the comparison valid.
Too bad you didn't have a chance to evaluate PATRICK's "study" in the RJ this morning about higher ed administration before it was published. It was another propoganda machine (they call it a think tank) piece of garbage slanted to prove the Libertarian agenda.
My momma taught me that there are three kinds of lies - lies, damn lies, and statistics. Patrick, I think you covered all three types with this latest gem. You ought to start putting a label on your Studies -
WARNING: Objects in this study may be further away from the truth than they appear.
Get rid of Nevada State College and take University of Phoenix, Kaplan and Toro with you. All poor excuses for people to take hundreds of thousands of dollars from students only to start off in entry level positions BELOW 6 figures upon graduation.
Whatever it is "I blame Harry Reid"/\,
I'll offer a suggestion as to where the budget should be cut - try cutting ridiculously high salaries of those entrusted to run this state on OUR behalf - ya, that's a good place to start - you know, those same politicians who can't see fit to give a COLA raise to those on SS (but who conveniently votes THEMSELVES a raise year after year). Hey, I want a job where "I" get to decide on my own raise... ya, that's a good place to cut the budget - these politicians really don't need it anyway - they're swimming in money.
Nevada students get the best education for their buck at Nevada State. Its faculty, like its students, are very diverse. New faculty are outstanding, as scholars and teachers. NSC is growing because there is a need for what it offers and those seeking an inexpensive but quality bachelors degree know it. NSC's separate identity could be eliminated by making it a branch of UNLV. Administrators and overhead cut be cut, but students and faculty could be relatively unaffected. (And by the way, Ms. Angell, I don't look Asian or Hispanic!)
NSC may have more students than last year, but that only proves they have good recruiters. A good indicator of a college's performance is how many students actually complete their college education and obtain a diploma within the expected time of four to five years. It is well known that in Nevada only about 28% of adults over 25 years or older have completed college and have a college degree.
NSC has not been able to graduate enough students since its inception in 2002 to make a dent on this reality, neither to justify all the money poured into its meager programs. Yes, some of the faculty might be good, but that is not what makes an academic program successful... Having a clear path to program completion, where all elements and resources of the institution merge is important! NSC has no serious rigor in their academic paths to help students obtain their degrees and be job ready in four or five years!
Let's face it, NSC will not make if there is no money in the sate coffers. Stop wasting the little we have available now! Just let it died, improve access to the students that need their education in the other institutions, like CSN and more online teaching. Make those institutions stronger and better performers. Let's face it Nevada cannot afford a third-tier system of higher education. We libertarians do not want to pay more taxes. We do want to have a competitive state with a first class labor force.