LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The University of Nebraska regents this week likely will decide how much students will contribute in higher tuition to help close a university budget gap.
The board will meet Thursday in Lincoln to consider the university’s operating budget for the next year. Budget details - including proposed tuition rates and spending cuts - have not been made public in the agenda materials but are expected to be released Tuesday.
“Those items are being finalized following the recent completion of the legislative session and determination of the university’s state funding,” the university has stated.
University administrators have been struggling with an expected $50 million budget gap. The university had sought $583 million a year in state support for each of the next two school years - the amount it received for 2016-17. But the Legislature and governor approved $570 million for the 2017-18 school year and $580 million for 2018-19.
University President Hank Bounds has told lawmakers that the loss of state aid comes as the university system is hit with increases in costs tied to health care, utilities and union agreements. The solution, he has said, will be a combination of significant budget cuts and tuition increases.
The university convened 10 working groups to look for efficiencies, consolidations, eliminations or other options within university operations such as human resources, communications and information technology.
Raising tuition by 1 percent would allow NU to generate an additional $1.6 million in revenue from Nebraska students and $1.1 million from nonresident students, university officials have said.
The system includes the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
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