Carson City-WNC, Great Basin presidents say bridge funding vital

Presidents of Western Nevada and Great Basin colleges told lawmakers on Tuesday the “bridge funding” is critically important to help them shift to the new system funding formula.

Two years ago, the Board of Regents and lawmakers moved to a new formula for state funding to the university system based on weighted per credit hours taken by students. The new system was strongly pushed by Southern Nevada campus officials and lawmakers who argued they had been shortchanged by the old formula.

The “bridge funding” to smooth the transition was included in the Board of Regents’ proposed budget but eliminated by the governor’s office.

WNC President Chet Burton and GBC President Mark Curtis asked lawmakers to find the money, just more than $5 million for the biennium, to restore the bridge funding.

Both said the two small community colleges are hurt in part because of economies of scale that make it more difficult to absorb the reductions they are suffering under the new formula. Those two colleges were also the institutions most severely hit by cuts during the recession.

Burton said he was asking for $1.95 million over the biennium. In addition to those economies of scale, he said the college is hurt by the policy they aren’t paid for credits taken by students who then drop out and flunk.

“Community colleges clearly have an open enrollment policy,” he said. “We are the gateway into higher education and not all of those students are going to be successful.”

He said the “F” grade rule cost his campus about $300,000.

Included in the cuts Burton has ordered to balance his budget is elimination of the baseball and women’s softball programs at WNC.

He said with Tesla and other major employers coming to Nevada, the role of his and other community colleges in the north has been dramatically increased because they are expected to provide the skilled workers for those new companies.

“Community colleges have been at the forefront of workforce development,” he said.

Curtis asked for $1.5 million a year to help GBC adapt to the new formula. He said before the recession, GBC received $16 million in state funding. Cuts through the recession and from the new formula will leave it with just $10.48 million.

He said even with the bridge funding, it will have to make another $500,000 in cuts.

Curtis said going forward, he wants to expand bachelor’s degree programs to keep Nevada kids in Nevada. Too many, he said, now get a degree from Great Basin then go to college in Utah or Idaho.

The other institution hard hit by the new formula was the Desert Research Institute, which hardly has any students because it’s role is research.

President Steve Wells said research and development funding is down 15 percent overall and defense research is more than 20 percent lower than in the past.

He asked lawmakers to restore his request for $750,000 over the biennium as bridge funding while DRI continues to develop private partnerships and business.