Tuition increases for the undergraduates here at UNLV have just been passed by the Board of Regents and although I am not happy to see students paying more at this institution because of the economic struggles we are all facing, it is time to look at what exactly can be done with the money that will be coming into our campus.
Student leaders, like myself, got together and talked about how we would like to see “student services” defined more clearly when the budget plan is made. We are following the Regents’ requests to work extensively with the Presidents of the universities to make sure student input is part of the expenditure plans.
Yesterday morning I met with our President, who showed me a very rough draft of his proposed expenditure plan for the 8% increase. Although it is broken up into the number of hires that will be going to each department and/or college, more than a million dollars will be spent on relieving bottleneck courses. This means that students will be offered more sections, which will hopefully be made up of smaller classes. This will help students who maybe were thinking about taking courses at other campuses because they are not being offered at UNLV. It will also help all students in graduating faster because they will not have to wait for some particular classes to be offered in certain semesters.
Almost another million dollars will be going to financial aid, as part of the 15% agreement between the Board of Regents and the institutions. This financial aid will be distributed the same as before, which means it is crucial for all students to complete to their FAFSA applications. You can find more information on the FAFSA and its deadlines at:
WWW.FAFSA.COM
Direct student support will be funded with the 8% tuition increase but students need to put their input on what they want to see on their campus. I have already advocated for more advisors for all colleges. I know from personal experience that some times students have difficulty setting up a meeting with an advisor because there may not be enough advisors due to a high student to advisor ratio. This can be even more frustrating during registration times. President Smatresk has already indicated that he is aware of these concerns and he will be addressing them when finalizing the budget.
IT positions were also a topic of discussion. In order for students to succeed academically, we realize that technology will be a key to this future. For example, Wi-Fi available any where on campus, wireless printing, Cloud computing, and better online resources like registration pages and mobile applications, will all be the tools UNLV students will need to succeed in the upcoming years. The hires proposed for these IT positions will directly help paving the way towards all these technological goals on this campus.
But my work does not end here. I am still planning on keeping conversations going with the President of the university, along with other leaders to make sure that the plans set in motion stay on track. CSUN’s Executive Board also needs to hear from the students and that is why we want to meet you and talk to you.
The E-Board is buying up to $500.00 worth of lunches tomorrow, Wednesday December 7th for anyone who wants to come the Student Union during 1pm and 3pm. We will be at Metro Pizza buying lunches and talking about the tuition increase spending plans. Also, we realize it is study week and would like to treat you since we know how hard you will be studying this week! See you all there!