The Utah Board of Regents today approved a 4 percent tuition increase for the state's nine public colleges and universities.
But there is more on the way.
The regents previously approved a two-tier plan whereby individual institutions are free to seek tuition increases above and beyond the across-the-board increases.
A regents task force that deliberated over the summer recommended the two-tier plan "to address urgent needs at individual institutions," Commissioner of Higher Education Cecelia Foxley said.
University of Utah President Bernie Machen and Utah Valley State College President Kerry Romesburg, in particular, have pushed for double-digit tuition increases and are expected to approach the regents with further tuition hike proposals for their institutions.
The 4 percent figure has been much bandied about over the past several weeks, with the regents using it as a working figure.
Four percent also happens to be the limit for which Utah college and university student body presidents have pushed. They have abandoned their policy in previous years of pushing for no increase, judging that to be an impossibility.
"A tuition increase above 4 percent would be representative of a state in recession," U. student body president Jess Dalton said. "We are not a state in recession."
Students from every institution in the state, including Brigham Young University, which as a private institution is not affected by the regents' decision, rallied at the regents meeting in October on the tuition issue.
They have won the first battle, but Dalton and others will now have to engage in another skirmish to keep tuition at their individual institutions from going up in the second tier of hikes.
Preliminary estimates for proposed tuition increases in colleges and universities across the country range from 4 to 5 percent.
Tuition increases at individual institutions will partially depend on the legislative session, that is,how much money legislators allocate higher education this year.
Last year, the Legislature concentrated on public education, giving it a 7 percent increase. Several legislators made informal promises that the coming session "will be higher education's turn," but there's nothing binding. Given the pressure exerted by public education teachers this year, including a one-day walkout Tuesday, some regents privately express fears that higher education may get the short end of the stick this year, too.
Gov. Mike Leavitt was scheduled to present his proposed higher-education budget to the regents this afternoon. According to a press release, it will provide for a "huge funding commitment" reflecting "an unprecedented commitment to enrollment growth and other substantial budget increases."
Its purpose is to take the number of higher-education students in engineering and technology-related fields, double it in five years and triple it in eight years.
In October, the regents approved a tentative budget requiring them to ask the Legislature for $77 million in ongoing fund increases and $26 million in one-time and supplemental funding over and above their base budget of $700 million. That's the largest requested increase in history, based on a new funding formula they're using.
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