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There is a battle being waged. An epic debate of words, letters, reason, rhetoric and legislation, the outcome of which will directly affect me, you and generations of Nevada’s children yet to come. Powerful people are currently making decisions on how important you and your education are to the State. Of course, the State tends to equate your caliber with your monetary value. So how much are you worth to the state? How significant is your college education to the State General Fund? What is the significance of an education to you and your family? Is it important enough to you to know what decisions are being made, and who is making them? Do you know who your legislator is? Or better yet, does your legislator know who YOU are? We’ve all heard the euphemisms and dysphemisms; revenue shortfalls, dire funding situations, irrevocable changes. But what do all these terms really mean, how much money are we talking here and specifically how does this affect our humble College of Southern Nevada?
First, we must understand how the school is funded. Monies from the State General Fund (taxes) are distributed to institutes of higher education depending on their full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment. This number is based on enrolled credit hours, not actual students. For the 2008-09 fiscal year (FY) CSN projected 18,760 FTE students, which equals a $132,475,638 Legislature approved operating budget. Of this amount, $97,672,554 is from the State General Fund, $5,221,576 is for a cost of living (COLA) salary adjustment and $29,851,508 from other funds, such as student fees, tuition and other campus generated revenue. So to break it down $132,754,638 operating budget divided by 18,760 FTE students’ equals? Anybody? Any brilliant math majors? No, hold on let me find a calculator….. $7,061.60 per student for the FY 2008-09. Now that we see what we’re working with lets look at how much we are going to lose.
The beautiful State of Nevada is gazing in the mirror and noticing a giant hole in her financial pantyhose, partly due to a 25% decline in her cherished gaming revenue. The honorable Governor Gibbons blames the shortfall on excessive needless spending and lack of “fiscal discipline”, while others point fingers at an “outdated” tax structure. Regardless of the reason, the Battle Born State is now fighting uphill, trying to claw herself out of the deep, calichewalled hole she finds herself in now. To combat these revenue problems, the good ole’ Gov. has implemented a series of budget cuts for state funded programs, including Nevada State Higher Education (NSHE).
In Dec. 2007 CSN’s budget was reduced by 4.5%, which equaled $4,282,040. Now add another 3.42% cut ordered for the FY
2008-09, for a grand total budget shortfall of $10,436,020. Subtracted from our original funding, this leaves CSN a new Legislative adjusted authority of $122,309,618.
With such massive amounts of money, one wonders how these cuts can affect so many students in such “irrevocable” ways. If this deficit were to be fixed solely by depending on the students, it would mean raising the tuition price by $145 dollars per credit hour. This hypothetical increase would make CSN more expensive than certain out-of-state schools with closer proximity to warm beaches. Fortunately this is not currently a viable option.
In response to the cuts CSN has ordered the closing of learning centers in Boulder City, Moapa, Lincoln County, A.D. Guy Elementary, West Sahara and the Latin Chamber Downtown. Freezes, reductions and reviews are being implemented all across the board, affecting things from salaries to college issued cell phones. A student surcharge of $4.50 has been recommended to generate about 2.7 million dollars. With this revenue added to other reduction plans, the school has come up with about 4.5 million dollars in savings. But will it ever be enough?
The fact is that we CSN Coyotes have always been the underdogs. A traditionally underfunded institution filled with unconventional students, at CSN most of us do not have a rich daddy to pay for school. Not all of us are 19 with a 4.0 GPA; hell a lot of us don’t even have a high school diploma! What we do all have in common though is heart. From an ex-gangbanger to a recently widowed grandmother to the recently discharged Marine, fresh from Iraq, all of us at CSN have the heart to strive for a better future than the one handed to us.
In spite of all these dire monetary situations, the fact is we have the power! The hundreds of millions of dollars that people debate on like monopoly money is OURS! The ones making the decisions work for US and must ultimately answer to US, not the other way around. It is our right and responsibility to keep a watchful eye on our educational system. If on the highest levels CSN looks more and more like something set up to fail, what does that say about us? Where will it leave us? But if the tremendous heart and brilliant diversity of CSN can shine through there is nothing we can’t achieve. By rallying together for a cause more important than ourselves individually, I believe we the students, and only the students have the power to save higher education.
Stand up and let your voice be heard. Knowledge over profit! A lone coyote is forced to become a scavenger, feeding out of the trash and surviving off of whatever scraps get tossed its way. But together as a pack, the coyotes can strategically and efficiently make a kill large enough to feed the entire group for weeks. For too long, we CSN Coyotes have been compliant to accept our meager scraps, while our intellectual hunger growls in our minds. It’s time we demand more respect and responsibility from the people in charge, and most importantly, from ourselves. |END
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