ÁùºÏ±¦µä

December 5, 2023

Dear Wolf Pack Family,

With our Winter Commencement ceremonies coming up on Saturday and finals beginning next week, this is a very busy time of year for our entire campus. I hope that as we near the end of the fall semester, you are all making sure to take care of yourselves and to check in with those you know and work with.

This past Friday, the ÁùºÏ±¦µä System of Higher Education Board of Regents voted to approve an 11 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for faculty in fiscal year 2025, effective on Oct. 1, 2024. The unanimous approval is for nearly all fulltime academic and administrative faculty. This action follows Board of Regents approval of a 12 percent COLA for all NSHE professional staff, which became effective July 1 of this year.

Classified employees will also receive an 11 percent COLA beginning on July 1, 2024. More information on the COLA for classified employees covered under the collective bargaining agreements will be available soon. The Board of Regents will also consider the COLA amount for clinical faculty at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno School of Medicine in a future meeting.

The increases for our academic and administrative faculty, as well as classified staff, are well-deserved with our institution having weathered economic recessions as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. They do, however, come at a cost, with the 11 percent COLA to be covered in part with an increase of 5 percent of NSHE student registration and tuition fees. The Board of Regents also moved to not award merit increases for academic and administrative faculty in fiscal year 2025 because of the recent increases in COLA.

Difficult decisions have been made by the University to offset funding for the first round of COLAs earlier this year by reducing operating budgets, eliminating vacant positions and implementing other strategies. Given that the increase in student tuition and fees will not entirely cover this latest round of COLA, we will again need to carefully weigh all of our options to address the funding of cost-of-living adjustments for our campus. We will share more information about the funding of the latest round of COLAs soon.

As we approach the end of the semester, I wish to thank all of you for your continued dedication and commitment to our University and those we serve. We have had a memorable semester, and it is your work and passion for what you do that makes our University so successful.

Go Pack!

Sincere regards,

Brian Sandoval
President