WASHINGTON — Education both at Utah's public and private universities is more affordable than in any other state, according to a new national study.
Despite that, Utah ranks only fair in how many of its adults manage to complete college.
The private, nonpartisan National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education issued its first-ever report card Thursday on how well states prepare students for college, how many students attend, how affordable it is and how many complete it.
Utah was one of only three states to earn an "A" in affordability, and one of only five to earn an "A" in how well it prepares youth for college.
But it received a D-plus for its college completion rates (only three states scored lower). Utah also scored a mediocre C for rates of college participation, and a B-minus for benefits to residents from college education.
"Utah is the top performer on the share of family income required, after financial aid, to attend the state's public four-year colleges, which enroll 54 percent of students statewide," the report card said.
It said Utah families need to pay only 17 percent of their income for that, followed by Wisconsin at 18 percent and Iowa and Kansas at 20 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, Vermont was the most expensive in the nation at 39 percent.
The report also said private colleges in Utah — attended by 28 percent of its students — similarly were the most affordable in the nation. Utah's community colleges were ranked as the 15th most affordable among the 50 states.
The report complained, however, "The state invests very little in financial aid for low-income students and families."
Despite the relative financial bargains in Utah, the report said many Utahns do not take advantage of the opportunity. And many do not complete college, at least not quickly.
It said only 41 percent of Utah's high school freshmen enroll in college within four years, ranking 27th in the nation.
Utah ranks 49th of 50 in how many first-time, full-time college students manage to earn a bachelor's degree within five years — just 29 percent.
But it notes that may be deceptively low because "many Mormon students leave colleges and universities for two years to fulfill a service mission and return to complete a degree."
Still, the report said that only 28 percent of all Utah adults ages 25 to 65 have college degrees, tied with four other states for 15th best in the nation.
The report gave Utah an "A" for preparing youth for college in part because "a very large proportion of Utah's young adults (91 percent, ranking ninth in the nation) earn a high school diploma or a General Education Development diploma by age 24."
It added, "The state is the top performer (in the nation) on the proportion of eighth-graders taking algebra. The scores of eighth-graders are high on national assessments for reading."
Also, it said, "A large percentage of high school students enroll in upper-level math and science. Utah is also one of the best states on the proportion of high school students performing well on Advanced Placement tests."
North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt — a board member of the center that produced the report, and a man whom George W. Bush is considering as secretary of education — lamented that the chances for success in college vary so much from state to state.
"Benefits are unevenly and often unfairly distributed," he said. "Geography, wealth, income and ethnicity still play far too great a role in determining the educational life chances of Americans."
For example, he noted that 59 percent of high school students in Massachusetts take upper-level math, but fewer than a third in Alabama do. Also, 38 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in California are enrolled in higher education, while only 20 percent in Nevada are.
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