University growth pushes budget demands up

University officials told the Legislature on Monday they are, in a sense, victims of their own success.

The system's eight campuses have been growing at better than 5 percent for several years. The percentage of high school graduates attending college rose from 30 percent in 1998 to 45 percent in 2002.

Total enrollment in the system is expected to reach 69,901 full-time- equivalent students by the end of this next two-year budget cycle. That translates to a head-count of full- and part-time students of more than 100,000.

University spokesman Dan Miles told the joint legislative budget committees the regents requested a total of $1.54 billion for the coming two years, and Gov. Guinn has recommended $1.49 billion of that.

That is nearly 20 percent more than the current two-year budget, but, Miles told lawmakers, they need even more money to handle the explosive growth of the university system. He laid out a series of enhancements the governor decided not to include in the budget - the largest of which is a 3 percent increase in formula funding to 87 percent. That would cost more than $43.5 million over the biennium.

Miles said other items the system regards as vital include $9.3 million to expand and update system computing services, adding 10 students to the annual medical school class for $4.3 million and doubling nursing-student capacity for $4.5 million more.

He said Nevada State College, Henderson has some 750 students, when it was only expected to have 500 this year. Its law school has more than 100 students above what it was budgeted for, and the new dental school is also attracting more students than expected.

Altogether, he laid out a total of $89.7 million in additions the regents and chancellor would like lawmakers to consider.

The recommended budget does not include capital-improvement projects proposed for the university system in the next two years. Those projects total about $99 million.

And the budget already includes several major funding changes that benefit the university system - such as inclusion of $89.4 million in programs formerly funded by the estate tax in the state budget and allowing the system to keep another $28 million or more in excess estate tax revenues.

The budget will be debated at length during the session.

n Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or 687-8750.