April 4, 2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Suzanne Ernst (702) 889-8426

Response to CCSN Budget Story

LAS VEGAS-Chancellor Jane Nichols today issued a response to a recent newspaper article that reported the Community College of Southern Nevada was shortchanged $7.6 million in 2001 due to a mistake in state funding.

"The media account of this issue contained several factual errors that must be addressed," said Nichols.

Nichols stated that the $7.6 million quoted in the story is an estimate of the size of the error based upon the current proposed classification system, not the classification system that was in place during the 2001 legislative session. More importantly, the figure of $7.6 million was for the two-year period of the biennium, not the one year as reported in the media.

Nichols added that the legislature funded the University and Community College System of Nevada at 81 percent during the 2001-2003 biennium. The figure of $7.6 million was calculated on the assumption that the legislature would fund the UCCSN at 100 percent.

Another factual error in the story was that the budgeting oversight was discovered while the 2001 legislature was in session.

"This error only came to light in recent months and could not have been corrected by the legislature," said Nichols. "The UCCSN formed a study committee last November to begin work on developing a new classification system that all institutions would approve. During this work, we discovered that CCSN had improperly assigned certain courses in the current budget to lower cost classifications than warranted."

"The current study committee has taken the CCSN error into consideration and will ask the legislature to make a technical adjustment during the next budget cycle," added Nichols.

BACKGROUND
The budget for the UCCSN for the 2001-2003 biennium was developed using a new funding formula approved by a legislative study committee following the 1999 legislative session. The purpose of the new formula was to ensure equitable treatment of the various UCCSN institutions and to better address rapid growth. The new formula depends on the assignment of enrollment into different cost classifications, which are determined by the type of courses taken by the students in the last three years.

During the 2001 legislative session concerns within UCCSN arose as to whether the university and community colleges had classified similar courses in the same manner. A UCCSN committee was formed to formulate a common classification system. Initial work by the committee resulted in excessive additional formula costs and was deemed too expensive to implement. In addition, numerous questions still existed concerning the equity of this version of the classification system and the legislative session was rapidly coming to a close. In order to stimulate a resolution to this issue, the UCCSN asked for and received a letter of intent from the legislature to study the problem before the next session and bring forward any recommendations at that time. The UCCSN then formed a study committee, which began its work last fall.

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The Nevada Board of Regents is the elected, 11-member governing body for the University and Community College System of Nevada. Comprising two doctoral granting universities, a state college, four comprehensive community colleges and one internationally acclaimed research institute, the UCCSN serves the educational and job training needs of the nation's fastest growing state. As Nevada's only system of higher education, the UCCSN provides educational opportunities to nearly 100,000 students.

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