NSHE votes to increase tuition for UNR, UNLV and community colleges

JANUARY 23 UPDATE:

Students going to college in Nevada will soon have to pay more.

The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) has voted to increase tuition over the next three years.

The measure passed eight to five.

The Board of Regents and other institutional leaders said it was a tough decision.

"There's an untenable tension between having to raise fees and tuition or having the institutions having to make those institutional reductions to make things balance," said Brian Sandoval, UNR President.

Tuition will increase by 12 percent over the course of three years for four-year universities like the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

It'll be a nine percent increase for community colleges such as Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC), Western Nevada College (WNC), and Great Basin College (GBC).

Starting this fall for the 2026-2027 academic year, tuition will rise three percent for universities and two percent for community colleges.

Then, for the 2027-2028 year, it'll be four percent for UNR and UNLV, and three percent for community colleges.

For 2028-2029, it'll go up another percent for each.

NSHE said that if nothing was done, almost $50 million in revenue would be lost, with 317 staff being let go. Sandoval said that just at UNR, they would have to let go of 116 staff members to try to cover the costs.

Some UNR students who spoke up during public comment feel that things could have gone a different direction.

"There is no serious exploration of permanent state funding, cost restructuring, or long-term stabilization strategies," Luis Galvez said.

"The situation does not constitute an emergency, and students were not shown that the institution seriously attempted to cut costs or reduce expenses before placing burden on students," said Hanine Haidar.

Given the tight vote, Regents were going back and forth.

Some Regents are hoping to go to the Nevada Legislature in 2027 to see if funding after the session can change.

"To me, it's a business decision and unfortunate as it is, nobody wants to raise anybody's fees, but the bottom line is you have to understand that we here in NSHE work on a fiscal," said Pete Goicoechea, NSHE Regent.

Goicoechea said that the Regents should prepare a legislative package to get some more state-supported funding.

There was another option the board was considering. It would have waited for the increases to start in 2027, but the increase would have been larger.

Some regents like Aaron Bautista favored this option because it could have allowed a change to possibly happen at the Legislature before charging students.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE (JANUARY 20):

A new fee proposal could change tuition at the Nevada schools, including UNR and UNLV.

The Nevada System of Higher Education is scheduled to discuss the move at its meeting this Friday.

NSHE says the rate hike is needed because "campuses are significantly underfunded, causing challenges in our ability to adequately serve our students and maintain campus facilities."

Assembly Bill 568 helped with short-term obligations, but issues continue.