Nevada higher education to get healthy budget boost
CARSON CITY — A panel of lawmakers signed off Tuesday on a budget for the Nevada higher education system that includes a double-digit increase in funding.
State general fund support will increase by $131 million for the seven-campus system to $1.2 billion for the 2017-19 biennium.
The funding recommended by Gov. Brian Sandoval represents a 12 percent increase for the Nevada System of Higher Education.
When student fees and other revenue sources are included, total spending is just under $1.9 billion based on the actions of the joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee.
There were only a few issues up for discussion during the budget-closing process. Most changes were approved without much comment or debate by subcommittee members. The action closes another major piece of Sandoval’s $8.2 billion, two-year general fund budget.
UNLV will see a funding increase in the first year of the budget to about $163 million, up from $145.6 million this year. Funding would remain essentially unchanged in the second year.
The fledgling UNLV Medical School would see general fund support go from $19.6 million this year to $21.8 million in 2017-18 and $30.2 million in 2018-19.
The UNLV School of Medicine received preliminary accreditation status in October 2016, confirming that it could accept 60 students for its charter class beginning in the fall. More than 900 applications were received, with about 60 percent coming from Nevada residents.
The College of Southern Nevada will get about $95 million in the first year of the budget, up from $88.9 million this year. Funding will increase to $97.6 million in the second year.
Nevada State College will go from $14.5 million this year to about $16 million in each year of the budget.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.