Restoration of Pandemic Budget Cuts
Request for support: $18.1M for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ | $75M systemwide
Nevada ranks last in the nation for higher education funding - when combining state support and tuition revenue - and near the bottom for its rate of college graduates. Pandemic-era budget cuts of 12% exacerbated funding challenges and hurt 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's efforts to educate future medical professionals, teachers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs that contribute to Nevada's economy.
Why it Matters
Strong universities are vital to economic recovery and sustainability, and restoring pandemic-era budget cuts will help produce the skilled workforce that Nevada needs now and into the future.
Aligning State Funds to Support Student Success
Request for support: $24.6M for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ | $46.6M systemwide
State funding for higher education is tied to weighted student credit hours (WSCH), which measures student completion by discipline, level, and institution type. The purchasing power of WSCH has been flat since its inception, yet expenses increase annually. One solution is to tie the WSCH to an established national measure of college costs, the Higher Education Price Index.
Why it Matters
Aligning WSCH with the Higher Education Price Index - which is used by NSHE to adjust student fees - would ensure that funding for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ keeps pace with the actual cost of providing services. The increase in the WSCH will help 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ adequately maintain operations and restore key student support areas that will boost graduation rates.
Expanding Medical Education
Request for support: $9.2M
The Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is fully accredited and graduated its second class of future physicians in 2022, the same year it moved into a new 135,000-square-foot medical education building. Continued investment in the school will enable expansion of class sizes from 60 to 90 each year, support operational costs of the new building, and develop educational, clinical, and research opportunities for all 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ health sciences disciplines.
Why it Matters
The Kerkorian School of Medicine delivers much-needed healthcare to our communities. Supporting this measure will continue the school's strong momentum by enhancing infrastructure and personnel to support program growth. It will also advance interdisciplinary, team-based programming for future medical personnel - including physicians and nurses - and enable contracts for clinical programs throughout all health disciplines to be negotiated together.
Competitive Graduate Assistant Stipends
Request for support: $14M for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ | $20M systemwide
Graduate level students are key contributors to 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's teaching and research mission. Unfortunately, Nevada's current graduate assistant stipends make it difficult for these talented students to make ends meet and stymie our efforts to recruit and retain them.
Why it Matters
Supporting graduate teaching assistants directly correlates with improved educational quality and classroom opportunities for undergraduates, and it helps 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ maintain its position as a Carnegie R1 institution. To keep up with near-record inflation, this measure would increase doctoral stipends by roughly $2,000 and master's stipends from $11,250 to $16,000. It would also support an increase of more than 60 graduate teaching assistants.
Bolstering K-12 Teacher Pipeline
Request for support: $320,000 for 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ | $2M systemwide
Nevada's K-12 schools are struggling to fill teacher vacancies, which can number into the thousands each year. Bolstering summer program offerings at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ for future teachers would establish a year-round cohort model, reduce the time to degree completion, and accelerate the placement of newly licensed teachers in our state's classrooms. This measure will allow for tracking of weighted student cred hours for education summer programs, a small change that will incentivize more summer course offering sand increase student participation.
Why it Matters
Funds generated will be used to add high-demand summer course offerings, expand ranks of instructional faculty, and support aid packages to lower the tuition cost for aspiring teachers and shortening the time to degree completion will boost the state's teaching pipeline and be a positive step forward in addressing the critical shortage of teachers.
Capital Projects
Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building
Request for support: $13.3M for planning and design
51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ has the largest deficit of classroom, lab, and research space among all NSHE institutions. This 90,000 square-foot facility will strengthen 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's capacity to deliver innovative solutions to issues impacting health, the environment, and emerging technology. Total construction estimate is $147M*. 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ requests funds this session for planning and design, and the university will fund 20% of the total $16.6M planning costs.
Fine Arts Building
Request for support: $5.1M for planning and design
Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, a distinction supported by arts and entertainment professionals whose innovation and constant reinvention spur the region's creative economy. 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's College of Fine Arts produces graduates that support this economy, yet its operations are housed in the outdated Grant Hall, among the university's oldest remaining buildings. This 100,000 square-foot facility will include laboratory, teaching, and collaborative spaces to help arts education grow and evolve for years to come. Total construction estimate is $85.1M*. 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ requests funds this session for planning and design, and the university will fund 50% of the total $10.2M planning costs.