Record enrollment increases and shrinking budgets were the most significant higher education issues in Utah during 2009, according to Commissioner William Sederburg.

"I am always amazed that at any one point in time, it doesn't seem like much is happening, but upon reflection, a lot has changed and a lot has been accomplished," he said.

At the top of his list, and on the minds of administrators, educators and campus employees in Utah, is the addition of about 24,000 more students than last year at state colleges and universities. Dixie State College saw the largest increase, with 23 percent more students on its already congested campus, most of them taking advantage of new four-year programs.

Sederburg commended action taken to further affiliate the College of Eastern Utah with Utah State University. The Board of Regents has adopted a plan, including a detailed document explaining various protocol, that will align the two schools following anticipated Legislature approval.

"This affiliation will improve the higher education opportunities in the southeast region of the state as well as assume some cost-efficiencies for CEU and USU," he said.

Friends of Higher Education, a new advocacy group, helped in 2009 to make higher education a top priority among business and state leaders.

Another priority of the commissioner, as well as the state, is economic development. Sederburg said the promotion of various statewide educational initiatives has helped to more closely connect local business and industry with regional colleges and universities.

Although state budget cuts — 17 percent overall — drastically impacted campuses across the state, Sederburg said he was proud that schools "have been able to maintain quality services at affordable rates for students." Recent state budget proposals have indicated that higher education institutions might be better off this year, but Sederburg has said the system is at a "critical tipping point."

The state's K-16 Alliance has worked throughout the year to build on a common student identification system to track students, allowing for improvement throughout the system, as well as the release of UtahFutures.org, a career planning program for students. Utah leads the country in coordinating academic content across the higher education spectrum and in 2009, the American Association of College and Universities identified the Beehive State as one of five pilot states to align educational courses with the needs of industry.

Controversy surrounded the New Century and Regents' scholarship programs, as the number of applicants increased and available funds ran dry. Sederburg said funding for the student-assistance programs will be a "major issue" this coming year as well but that the program "is already having a positive impact on better aligning high school courses with college-readiness standards."

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The Utah Educational Savings Plan saw significant growth in 2009 and is nearing $3 billion in assets, while the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority has continued to provide loans for every eligible student, despite dealing with the most challenging fiscal environment in the agency's history, including a 40 percent increase in loan volume during the school year. With this, UHEAA still maintains the lowest borrower default rate in the country.

Also of note, the '09 Legislature established better-defined regions for the Utah College of Applied Technology and gave Salt Lake Community College the ability to more effectively serve Salt Lake County and surrounding areas with career and technical education.

"With these events, 2010 will assuredly be another exciting year for higher education and the state," Sederburg said Wednesday, adding that many of the top-10 items in 2009 will continue to be priorities in the new year. He hopes that all the issues together help to "build the state's talent pipeline" from kindergarten to employment for as many as possible.

e-mail: wleonard@desnews.com

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