NU Board of Regents approves President Bounds’ budget

The NU Board of Regents met today to vote on the University budget.

With 53,000 students set to converge on NU campuses across the state,

President Bounds gave an update on the status of the universities.

"I can tell you that the chancellors and I and all the folks that you see, faculty and staff in the room are focused on growing the university and doing even more to really serve the people of the state," said Bounds.

In the last 16 months, the university system has seen state funding slashed on three separate occasions.

NU officials say its now stretched as thin as it can be.

It has even impacted the amount of scholarship money nu can offer.

"Other institutions are coming into the state of Nebraska and offering many more scholarship dollars than we can possibly offer," said Bounds.

Bounds’ budget recommendation would ask the state for a 3% increase in state appropriations in the next fiscal year.

He says this will help NU fight the inflation costs of higher education.

He says this request meets only the minimum needs of the university system.

"I think it needs to be really clear to the public, to our legislature and to our governor, that we’re going in with a request that is deficient, significantly deficient compared to our needs," said Bounds.

Bounds says even if lawmakers agree to the 3% increase, the university will still need more funding in order to grow the way the board of regents would like.

A big area of concern within the state, he says, is finding talented workers.

"I spend a lot of my time talking to business leaders across the state and they say Hank we face three challenges in growing our business. Number one is workforce, number two is workforce, and Hank, if you’re not listening, number three is work force," said Bounds.

The board did approve president Bounds’ operating budget, which includes that 3% increase request starting in fiscal year 2019-2020.

If lawmakers decide to cut even more.. A possible side affect could be an increase in tuition prices.