A college education is the dream of a majority of Utah's high school graduates. The state prides itself on the number of its graduates who go on to some type of higher education - about three in four.
The question is, how long can the state maintain that enviable statistic as students have to reach deeper and deeper into their own pockets to pay for higher education? Could rising personal costs become a deterrent that would keep some would-be college students away?Out-of-reach tuitions could have the most telling effect on those groups that have the most to gain - low-income and minority students - higher education officials believe.
At this point, students in the state's four-year schools pay slightly less tuition than students in similar schools nationwide, while students at the community colleges pay slightly more, said C. Gail Norris, associate higher education commissioner for finance. Policy decisions in the next few years could affect that picture as the State Board of Regents tries to encourage more students to attend two-year schools, thus alleviating pressures on the four-year institutions.
Utah's tuition increases have exceeded the overall inflation rate for a number of years.
Since the 1982-83 school year, the Consumer Price Index has increased 34.7 percent. All nine of Utah's state colleges and universities have raised their tuition 50 percent or more during the same period.
Next fall, tuition will jump 7 percent at the four-year institutions and 3 percent at the two-year schools. The State Board of Regents approved the increase to bring an additional $7.4 million to the schools' coffers.
Both the regents' budget request now before the Legislature and the governor's budget recommendations are built upon this tuition increase.
Compared to other states, Utah ranked 33rd in 1988-89 in the share tuition paid of state appropriations for higher education. Students on average paid 22.6 percent of the total state appropriations going to higher education, according to Research Associates of Washington. The national average was 24.2 percent. Vermont students paid the highest, 70.1 percent, and District of Columbia students paid the lowest, 7.8 percent.
During years when state support of higher education has flagged, schools have looked to tuition increases to bolster their budgets.
Several studies of equitable tuition formulas have been undertaken in Utah, the most recent during 1989. That study suggests tying tuition increases to inflation, the costs of instruction and comparisons with peer institutions.
The proposal, however, has "been put on a back burner," Norris said, until after the 1990 legislative session.
Student leaders complain about the lack of a cohesive, predictable policy to guide tuition increases.
"While minimum wages have remained constant, tuitions have doubled," said Kyle Crump, president of both Snow College's student association and the Utah Student Association, which represents the state's 100,000 college students.
The association is concerned with a lack of consistency in tuition increases in recent years, calling them capricious and erratic. "We never know where the numbers come from," Crump said. "We hear new percentages each year."
Students are resigned to the fact that their tuitions will continue to rise, but they want a dependable formula on which to rely so they can plan their finances in advance.
Sen. Richard Carling, R-Salt Lake, is concerned that tuition increases have outstripped increases in state funding for higher education. The Legislature has used 20 percent of state contributions as an informal guideline for considering tuitions, but the percentage has inched up and now is above that level.
"I don't think that's fair," said Carling, who heads the Legislature's higher education joint appropriations subcommittee. "They say our tuitions are below the national average, but so are our salaries. If they want tuitions to match the national average, then the state contribution should be the national average as well. I don't think we should knock kids out because they can't afford to pay the tuition."
While tuitions are rising, student aid programs are changing. The federal government has shifted emphasis from grants to loans.
"Many of our students are leaving school with tremendous debts," said Higher Education Commissioner Wm. Rolfe Kerr.
"There needs to be a balance of loan programs and state and federal grants," he said.
The Utah Legislature provides only about a half million dollars for tuition waivers for students with either particular merit or hardship.
Increasing state aid is "something the state will have to talk about if it wants to keep its best and brightest students," Kerr said.
Is tuition a factor in access to a college? Dixie College found that raising tuitions by a large percentage several years ago had a definite chilling effect.
After several years of significant enrollment growth, the college boosted tuition by 30 percent in 1986-87. That fall, about 100 fewer students enrolled in the St. George school than had the previous year. A small drop followed in 1987-88 and numbers have only now begun to move upward again.
The enrollment drop had an effect in the community as well, said Dixie President Douglas Alder. For instance, a private housing project that had anticipated continued student growth suffered financial problems.
Out-of-state students, of whom Dixie enrolls a large number, are particularly affected by tuition increases, Alder said.
Even if the state's financial picture becomes rosier, the question of tuition increases will certainly be in the higher education spotlight in the early 1990s.
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)
(CHART #1)
This little girl, at age 3, isn't thinking of college - yet. But her parents are. They want to save enough money to pay her tuition and fees completely. They have some alternatives. They could plan on four years at the University of Utah, or they might consider a two-year associate degree at Salt Lake Community College, which also could provide her with a worthwhile career.
The parents must assume that tuition and fees at either institution will increase at 6 percent per year while their child is growing. The interest on their savings will provide approximately the same return. Given those factors, here is what they ,must save over the next 15 years:
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH S.L. COMM. COLLEGE
Cash Needs in 2005 $18,140.00 $5,910.00
Annual Savings $735.00 $240.00
Monthly Savings $61.25 $20.00
(CHART #2)
TUITION COSTS
Average cost of tuition for one student per year
RANK STATE TUITION
1. Vermont $5,491
22. Alaska $1,468
26. Arizona $1,419
23. Oregon $1,314
36. UTAH $1,714
39. Nevada $1,099
40. Washington $1,067
44. New Mexico $ 909
45. Wyoming $ 801
46. Montana $ 800
47. Hawaii $ 717
49. Idaho $ 673
51. California $ 526
United States $1,351