The University of Nebraska is asking the Legislature for a 3% increase in state appropriations in each of the next two years.

Gov. Jim Pilllen, who was a member of the NU Board of Regents when it approved the 3% increase proposal, has included a 2% increase in his budget proposal, an amount reflected in the Appropriations Committee’s initial budget.

That cut from the request, albeit politically appealing to the conservative Legislature and governor, is, at best, shortsighted, ignoring inflationary pressures that continue to drive up university operating costs. It would likely create long-term damage to the system at a time the state’s future is dependent on higher education and, especially, NU.

The future need was adroitly summarized by NU President Ted Carter in his testimony during the committee’s hearing on the university budget:

“Not only is Nebraska’s ‘brain drain’ persistent and worsening, but we are not competitive in the share of our population with a bachelor’s degree or higher. We rank just 26th in the country – at the very time when the fastest-growing, highest-paying jobs, like those in healthcare, IT and engineering, are those that overwhelmingly require a four-year degree. No entity in the state can deliver that kind of skilled workforce like the University of Nebraska.”

The university’s role in providing a skilled workforce, which will be increasingly necessary over the next decade, and its strong role in developing agriculture, the state’s biggest economic sector, earned support for the 3% request from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Nebraska Farm Bureau, organizations that aren’t known for favoring excessive spending on any state agency or programming.

And it is important to note that a 3% increase would not cover all of NU’s needs and would force modest tuition increases and budget cuts to close any funding gaps.

Given that NU has already cut some $75 million from its budget over the last five years, eliminating what Carter called any “low-hanging fruit,” a 2% increase would trigger far higher tuition increases than the 3% request and offset some, if not all of the benefits of the tuition freeze of the last two years that was designed to keep university attendance affordable for Nebraska families and bring as many students as possible to the campuses in Lincoln, Omaha, Kearney and Curtis.

With smaller high school graduating classes projected for the immediate future and the anticipated increase in the number of jobs requiring a college degree, the 3% increase, which would boost NU’s state support to $665 million in 2023-24 and $696 million in 2024-25, would be, in reality, a minimal investment in the future of the state and its young people. It should be included in the committee’s budget and approved by the Legislature.

This editorial first appeared in Lincoln Journal Star on March 11, 2023. It was distributed by The Associated Press.