College funding formula

State funding for three Northern Nevada colleges - Great Basin, Western Nevada and Truckee Meadows - would be slashed by as much as one-third starting in 2013 under a new funding formula proposed last week by the state Board of Regents.

Higher education funding no longer would be determined simply by counting the number of students enrolled in courses, but instead based on the number of students who successfully complete courses - colleges' output, rather than input.

And funding would vary based on how much it cost to offer each class. There would be higher allocations, for instance, for classes in science and technology.

Chancellor Dan Klaich, who created the formula, asserts it brings "transparency and equity," though he admitted the plan has made few friends in the rurals.

About $13.2 million would be cut from four small colleges and given instead to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College - all in the Las Vegas Valley. CSN would receive much of that money, boosting its budget by $7 million.

To make the transition less shocking, the regents also recommended that the state kick in an extra $5 million in one-time funding from the general fund to lessen the blow to the three northern colleges.

A legislative committee met all day Wednesday to consider the issue and its potential effects. Rural lawmakers said ending Southern Nevada's subsidization of their campuses would be catastrophic to those institutions.

Yes, smaller, rural campuses can face higher per-student costs. But the whole state benefits from keeping the flagship universities strong. Performance-based funding is "a fundamentally positive move forward," as Clark County Regent Michael Wixom points out.

Lawmakers should set aside parochial concerns and give the regents' proposal strong consideration.