UNLV cuts derail students’ planning

Jimmy Phung is 22 years old and just graduated last December with a bachelor's degree in biology from UNLV.

He had everything pretty much worked out. He'd spend the next couple of years working on his post-baccalaureate in Clinical Laboratory Sciences. He'd work as a medical technician for a while. Maybe go on to medical school later.

He was sure this would work.

He met all the CLS program requirements.

He'd applied. Felt confident that he'd be accepted. There was plenty of room for him at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

And then the bottom dropped out. The CLS program will be eliminated.

Students who are already in the program will be given up to two years to finish, just like students in the other five programs at UNLV that are slated for closure in this latest round of budget cuts.

But CLS is different. The only people already in the program will be seniors this coming year. CLS is not like traditional programs where students are admitted, spend a few years working on a degree, and graduate.

CLS is more like nursing, where students are classified as pre-majors for their first two years while they work on required courses. They're allowed in when they become juniors, so long as they meet the requirements.

Or, if they're like Phung, they go back after they get their bachelor's degrees.

But not now.

About two dozen students are in the same situation as Phung. They have applied to UNLV's program, fully expecting to get in. But now they won't. And the deadline has passed for just about every other CLS program out there.

"This was supposed to be the sure thing," Phung said.

The higher education system's governing Board of Regents is expected to approve a slew of recommendations from UNLV President Neal Smatresk on program and department eliminations at the university. Same thing for the University of Nevada, Reno.

Representatives from the two schools, going into the third year of higher ed budget cuts, say there is no other way to save the millions that lawmakers have cut from their budgets.

The board is scheduled to vote on the cuts at its meeting Thursday at UNR.

It is likely that a contingent of CLS students from UNLV, as well as students from other programs, will be at the meeting to protest the cuts.

Jan Conway-Klaassen, the CLS program director at UNLV, said she has asked for permission to allow students like Phung in, since the program will probably be around for a couple of years anyway to let the current students finish. But the administration won't allow it.

"The bottom line is, we can't afford it," said Carolyn Yucha, the dean of both applied sciences, where CLS falls, and nursing. "There's no good choice."

She said many, if not most, current CLS students should finish the program within a year. There is no reason to allow another 20-plus students in when the program will be gone soon anyway. It would be irresponsible.

"Our plan is to try to get them through it as soon as possible," she said of the current students.

That doesn't make it any easier for Phung. He has no idea what to do now.

Even if the deadline hadn't passed for most of the other CLS programs, the fact is UNLV's was the only one in Nevada. If he got in somewhere, he would have to pay out-of-state tuition. He can't do that.

Phung said he has thought his options over. He might apply for something else at UNLV, essentially work toward a second bachelor's degree. Maybe he could transfer over somewhere else, someday. But maybe not.

He's confused.

He knows there's a great demand for CLS graduates. They are the people who do complicated medical testing: blood, urine, that sort of thing.

Yucha said students who were expecting to start the CLS program in the fall have three options, and none of them are great:

■ Choose another health care program to major in. The college will work with them to fast-track their enrollment, if necessary, she said.

■ Find another CLS program. There are several in California and a few elsewhere in the West.

■ Switch over to the College of Southern Nevada's program, which offers an associate's degree.

Conway-Klaassen, the program director, said the associate's degree option is not likely to appeal to many students.

The difference between the two is similar to the difference between a licensed practical nurse and a registered nurse. The one with less training simply isn't qualified to do much of the complicated work.

If the Board of Regents eliminates the program, as expected, Conway-Klaassen and Yucha said students will be called in for counseling sessions soon after the regents vote.

"It truly is devastating for the students," Yucha said.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.