UNLV made up for nearly half of all spending by Nevada colleges and universities on buyouts in 2019, shelling out roughly $347,000 on just six buyouts over the last calendar year. 

System General Counsel Joe Reynolds told the regents that such buyouts are often used to avoid costly legal fights for schools or school employees looking to part ways. The payments have become especially commonplace at UNLV, where spending on buyouts ballooned to more than $3 million over a two-year period.

Reynolds told the regents that, despite the large sum from UNLV, spending on buyouts was down about 65 percent from 2018, though he cautioned that it was not “an apples to apples comparison.”

Other buyout spending — which totaled roughly $713,000 — included $91,000 from UNR for four buyouts, $77,000 for three buyouts from CSN, $71,000 for two buyouts at TMCC, $25,000 for one buyout at Great Basin College, $40,000 for one at the Desert Research Institute, and another $60,000 for one buyout at system administration. There were no buyouts at either Western Nevada College or Nevada State College. 

“Let’s be real clear, none of the institutions really had a problem with this except for UNLV, just to be blunt,” System Chancellor Thom Reilly said.

Reilly added that, though the $3 million representing funding that could have flowed elsewhere, the reduction to $350,000 represented a marked improvement in spending trends. 

“I want to credit President [Marta] Meana on this because it’s not easy to start changing culture and start saying ‘no,’” Reilly said.