If a proposal to raise student fees at Nevada's colleges and universities is approved next month, students will be paying twice as much next year as they were just six years ago.

The hike, which would affect undergraduate students only, would be made to counter state budget cuts that higher education leaders say have weakened the colleges and universities over the past several years.

"We've lost a lot of faculty. We've lost programs. We've lost courses," said Jason Geddes, chairman of the higher education system's governing Board of Regents. "If we're going to be part of the state's recovery, the economic development necessary, we're going to have to offer more courses, not less."

The board will be offered three proposals. Members could reject all of them or pass one. They will choose between fee increases of 5 percent, 8 percent and 13 percent.

If the 13 percent hike is approved -- and Geddes said that is the one he favors -- annual fees for full-time undergraduate Nevada residents will top $6,000 next year.

That number does not include books, room and board, or special course fees.

Graduate student fees will not increase. A nearly systemwide enrollment drop this year was concentrated among graduate students, a fact some officials blamed on the cost being too high. Graduate students pay about 50 percent more, per credit, than undergraduates do.

Sarah Saenz, the undergraduate student body president at UNLV, said students complain often of the rising costs to attend the university.

But, she said, they complain just as much about the budget cuts of recent years. She said the cuts have made it harder for students to get appointments with advisers, for example.

Saenz said she thought a 13 percent hike is too much, but one of 5 percent to 10 percent would be understandable, as long as the money stays on campus.

Higher education leaders have complained for years that most of the fees charged at the universities and colleges end up enriching the state's general fund rather than improving the campuses.

Read Full Story