Students will pay for Nevada faculty salary increases starting next year. According to a Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents meeting agenda published Friday, the regents will vote on one of two options to cover legislatively approved cost-of-living salary adjustments at their next meeting.
Both options show student fees will cover an 11% or a 9.5% increase. The only difference between the two choices is that the 11% increase won’t take effect until Oct. 1, 2024, while the 9.5% option will begin when the new fiscal year starts: July 1, 2024.
“The delayed 11% is our preferred option because it has greater benefits over the long term,” Jim New with the Nevada Faculty Alliance said.
Those getting their salaries adjusted include professional employees, instructors, administrators, professors and instructors. [Disclosure: this reporter teaches half-time at the University of Nevada, Reno and will receive the COLA.]
The increase will be paid for by a 5% hike in registration fees and tuition. A portion of the 5% collected—15% or 10%, depending on the institution—will also be earmarked for “student success, consistent with board policy, and the remainder will be used exclusively in support of the salary increase to the state-supported operating budget,” the meeting agenda notes.
“Many undergraduate students are drawn to the University’s affordability, and additional adjustments for these self-supporting budgets on campus will further affect students’ financial accessibility to higher education,” said Dawson Deal with the Associated Students of the University of Nevada. “In discussions with student workers, there are also concerns that with these additional fees, their cost of living will increase without adjustment to their pay.”
NSHE institutions were forced to cover part of the COLAs—after faculty had seen few salary adjustments to match inflation—because a legislative accounting error led to underfunding higher education. The Nevada Legislature has not fixed the error.
“We are frustrated with the Legislature’s decision not to fully fund this mandate, as students will feel the brunt of these deficits. In future sessions, we hope that legislators consider these outcomes while working to restore higher education budgets across the state,” Deal added.
Institutions had to make up the reduced state support, with student fees and holding open faculty positions as two of the main options considered by campus presidents.
“We’re funded at 60.5%,” Andrew Clinger with UNR said in October. Other institutions have a larger share of state funds in their operating budget, whereas UNR has no budget for COLAs. “It makes it difficult to plan.”
Clinger added that student enrollment is suffering, with growth projections failing to meet forecasts. He said that significant cuts would have to be made regardless of which scenario the regents chose.
The regents are scheduled to meet in Las Vegas on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Read the regents agenda item here: https://nshe.nevada.edu/wp-content/uploads/file/BoardOfRegents/Agendas/2023/12-dec-mtgs/refs/bor/BOR-18.pdf
