Money — specifically how to get by with less of it — occupied members of the Utah Board of Regents Friday as they met at the University of Utah. Every topic was colored by the specter of cutbacks likely in the next budget go-round, which is haunting all agencies of Utah government as they anticipate the 2002 legislative session in an atmosphere of declining revenues.
The regents OK'd a proposed 3 percent increase in first-tier student tuitions, with the caveat that the topic will come up for further discussion among higher education leaders, legislators and others concerned with the issue.
"We will visit this more than once over the next few months," said Commissioner for Higher Education Cecelia Foxley. Better insight into the financial "lay of the land" will contribute to a final decision, but Foxley assured that the regents don't want to jeopardize students' ability to pay for their education.
Student leaders across the state had asked that the regents not go beyond 3 percent in the across-the-board increase. Some institutions may add to tuitions under a Tier Two plan that allows them to address particular campus needs.
Students at the state's largest university, private Brigham Young University, won't face a tuition increase next fall. It announced recently that it would not raise tuition for the 2002-2003 school year.
In information supporting the regents' proposal, it was shown that among Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education states, of which Utah is one, tuition increases for 2001-02 averaged 5.2 percent at four-year institutions for resident students. At two-year institutions, the increase was 5.0 percent. Nationally, increases were even higher at 7.7 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.
The regents also listened to but did not act on a report from a consultant that higher education's fragmented, outdated and aging information system would require up to $137,642,000 to bring up to current standards.
Robert M. DePalma of Arthur Andersen LLP, a Chicago firm, told the regents the present system, which is not integrated among the system's 10 institutions of higher education, can't meet demands for constant access; that data quality is uncertain; and that "shadow systems" have been created due to poor reporting and access capabilities. Inconsistent funding based primarily on one-time allocations has created instability over time, he said. Lack of training among technical staffs also has made the present systems vulnerable, he added.
The consultant recommended that state-of-the-art administrative systems be implemented at all of the schools and that a common data warehouse be developed. His company considered eight alternatives that would resolve the problems. He outlined three of those alternatives, which had price tags ranging from $103.8 million up to $137.6 million. The ongoing costs of an integrated system would range from $10 million to $22 million per year, DePalma's report said. The advantage of a shared system would be savings of 20-25 percent over an independent approach, he said.
Regent Chairman Charles E. Johnson said, "With an amount that huge, nothing is going to happen immediately. But this will help us look to the future."
Some of the institutions need more immediate attention. Weber State University President Paul A. Thompson told the regents, "We can't wait for five years." The likelihood of the Legislature committing to one-time funds of the amount under discussion is not good, he said, and his system is "at risk. Let's not tie the hands" of the various institutions, he pleaded.
John Massey and Lynne Warde, representing the governor's Office of Management and Budget, confirmed the regents' money concerns. Both state and national economies have continued to slide, they said, and the country now is considered to be in a recession. The current state outlook is for cuts of at least 3 percent across the board for state agencies. The prospect of trimming in an era when enrollments are climbing in the state's higher education system has leaders worried. Growth for the current year approached 8 percent.
Warde said that Utah's economy is diversified enough that impacts of the recession likely will not be as disabling here, but there still are serious concerns.
"The crystal ball is very clouded at this point in time," said Massey, and Warde added that state officials looking at a $200 million-plus drop in revenues "hope for the best and are preparing for the worst."
Regent vice chairwoman Pamela Atkinson suggested that reluctance to use the state's Rainy Day Fund to help salve the economic wounds is short-sighted. "What is a rainy day?" she asked rhetorically. "Maybe it's not pouring, but it's 'spitting rain' as we used to say in England. We could regret making cuts that affect the state's long-term objectives," including education and social services, she said.
"Stimulus" packages being proposed at the national level might be well emulated at the state level, Foxley said.
E-mail: tvanleer@desnews.com