Sierra Nevada College Freezes Tuition

North Lake Tahoe Bonanza: Sierra Nevada College freezes tuition

By Kyle Magin
Bonanza Staff Writer

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. —While colleges and universities across the nation are increasing tuition in response to rising costs and decreasing education budgets, Incline Village’s Sierra Nevada College is holding steady.

The board of trustees for the only private, four year college in the state of Nevada announced Wednesday they elected to defer a planned 4.9 percent tuition hike for the 2009-10 school year.

“This is not a PR gimmick,” said President Robert Maxson. “The board felt this was a very tough time for families, both of students who are already here and potential incoming freshmen.”

Board Chair Barry Munitz could not be reached by press time for comment on this story.

Maxson said the rate increase would probably be implemented in the 2010-11 school year but couldn’t say what percentage would go into effect at that time.

The hike would have upped the cost of yearly undergraduate tuition about $1,116 to $23,883.

A number of SNC students said a major increase in tuition would have given them second thoughts about coming back to the school for another year, but most were excited at the prospects of paying the same tuition.

“I thought that (the deferment) was awesome,” said Michael Hollum, a senior business major at SNC. “Even though I’m graduating, I think it’s great, they won’t scare kids away who are already here and won’t scare away any new freshmen.”

Freshmen Kelby Furrer agreed and said the tuition deferment is a good idea.

“I think that it’s good,” said sophomore Chris Chapin, who transferred from the University of Nevada, Reno, where a tuition hike is expected. “They are private and I can’t see a reason they’d have to raise it, they don’t really have enough students to afford losing any.”

Since SNC is a private institution and does not receive any state funding, it is not affected by a potential drop in funding for higher education statewide.

But, as Maxson said, costs are rising and SNC will need to atone for the gap left by the deferment.

“I think (the deferment) means we’ll need to increase our fundraising a little bit,” Maxson said.

Keeping tuition down or even dropping it isn’t an unheard of concept nationally— just very rare.

William Jessup College, a private institution in the Sacramento, Calif., area announced a decrease Monday, and a small handful of private colleges have done the same with decreases or deferments. However, most state-funded colleges and universities have announced planned increases, especially regionally in Nevada and California.

Maxson, who maintains contact with a network of college presidents both at public and private institutions said each holds their own fears.

“A lot of college presidents, both private and public worry that kids might opt for a community college for their first few years of school,” Maxson said. “Private schools are worried that because they are usually a little more expensive they’ll have a drop in enrollment levels. At the publics, presidents are worried because most campuses have frozen enrollment and they may not be able to offer as many classes next year.”