The Nevada Student Alliance is a group representing the state's higher education student government organizations, which in turn represent students on every college and university campus.
Christopher Roys is chair of the Nevada Student Alliance, and also president of the Consolidated Students of the University of Nevada, the student government association at UNLV.
He told State of Nevada one of the biggest concerns students have is affordability.
"If we want to make it a point to serve those who come from Nevada and make sure they have a pipeline into the workforce, a lot of people are boxed out of that situation because they don't want to be burdened with student debt," Roys said.
Roys said he would like the Legislature to pass the budget the board of regents and Nevada System of Higher Education agreed on earlier this year.
He said Nevada needs to look at the money put into education as an investment, not a cost.
"If we're able to spend state money or raise taxpayer dollars to build a Raiders stadium, we should be able to invest a similar amount of money into education as an additional funding mechanism," he said.
Roys believes that investing in Nevada's higher education is the only way to really move the state to the next level when it comes to economic development.
It is not just funding for education that he would like to see, but also funding to remove some of the barriers to education, like improving technology infrastructure in Nevada's rural areas and improving public transportation in the state's urban centers.
"In general, if we want to support higher education and access to education, we also need to look at what kind of infrastructure are we putting in place to make sure people are successful," he said.
Besides funding and improved infrastructure, Roys said a lot of students are concerned about campus safety, especially at schools like UNLV and UNR where students live on or near campus.
However, the board of regents recently disbanded its committee on athletics and instead created a student security committee to look at ways to address safety concerns. Roys sees that as an important step forward.
Christopher Roys, chair, Nevada Student Alliance
