Nevada State College an important community asset

In his Feb. 5 column, Geoff Schumacher suggested that the Nevada Board of Regents, in an effort to reduce the state's current budget deficit, consider closing Nevada State College. Mr. Schumacher based his suggestion on the misguided notion that Nevada State College's "contribution to the state system is negligible."

I am a longtime resident of Southern Nevada, a businessman and very committed to helping make our community a better place. As chairman of the Nevada State College Foundation -- a position that affords me the opportunity to work closely with the college's students, faculty and administration -- I am confident that Mr. Schumacher's opinion would change if he fully understood how the school fits into the Nevada System of Higher Education, who Nevada State primarily serves, and the contribution it makes to our efforts at economic diversification in our community.

In addition, closing Nevada State College would not meaningfully change the cost of higher education in our state and would be counterproductive.

Nevada State College's contribution to the state's system of higher education, in a very short period of time, has been and continues to be profound. The school's mission is different from any other institution in the system in that we are primarily a teaching college, not a research institution like UNLV. Our mission is to train the next generation of professionals in our community, with an emphasis on educating nurses and teachers. The creation of the college was part of an overall strategic plan when in 2005, a bipartisan committee comprised of members from the Legislature and Board of Regents provided the following recommendations in order to make the state system more cost effective:

-- "Limit enrollment at the universities and create four-year program capacity at baccalaureate teaching institutions for reasons of both cost and responsiveness to the defined needs of the state."

-- "If UNLV is to emerge as a research university, it will have to become more selective and admit only students who are prepared for, and can take advantage of, an academic institution focused more on research and economic development."

-- "Nevada State College should accommodate the bulk of the growth in four-year enrollments."

Since the release of this 2005 report, the Board of Regents, to its credit, has implemented many of the cost-saving measures detailed in the report. For instance, the state system's governing board accelerated the schedule by which entrance requirements would increase at the universities. In addition, this same board recently mandated that universities limit their offerings in remedial education and that the state college and community colleges now serve as primary institutions for remediation.

Without Nevada State College, large numbers of prospective students would be denied access to the baccalaureate degree.

Nevada State College focuses much of its efforts on serving students from economically challenged households. These are very bright students. Many of them would not be able to attend college but for the low cost tuition that is a result of the fact that the school does not have to provide many of the "bells and whistles" required at a research institution. Our students are excited about attending Nevada State College as demonstrated by the fact that our student population has grown at a compounded annual rate of 40 percent since inception, the highest in the Nevada system. Today, the college enrolls more than 2,500 talented and committed students who are working to better themselves, their families and their communities. For close to half of the school's students (45 percent), attending college represents a significant milestone, for they are the first in their family to have ever attended any type of college or university. For them, a four-year degree from Nevada State College represents greater opportunity and social standing.

Nevada State College contributes to the economic diversification of our community and plays an important role in expanding our economy at a time when we desperately need it. The best social program to help those in economic difficulty is a job. We are training nurses in a time when we very much need them. We are training teachers at a time when education must be a priority in order to expand our economy. To abandon this mission makes no sense.

In terms of developing an educated workforce, Nevada State College is keeping its promise to our community. Since 2004 (the first year that students were eligible to graduate from the college), more than 850 students have graduated. More than two-thirds of the college's alumni have graduated with degrees in nursing and teaching. Our nursing and teaching graduates are highly valued in hospitals and classrooms throughout Southern Nevada because of their competency and commitment.

Nevada State College was created with the mission of providing access to the baccalaureate degree for the citizens of Nevada. Nevada State has been effective and efficient in that mission. The school must continue to be a focus for bachelor's level education in Nevada.

Abandoning Nevada State College would not save any appreciable money for the state budget and in fact would end up costing Nevada more for education. There are no "easy fixes" and "knee jerk reactions" don't help solve the problem. Now is the time for leaders in our community to actively engage in meaningful dialogue about how to more efficiently manage the process of educating our citizens.

Glenn Christenson is the chairman of the Nevada State College Foundation.