2019 Legislative Update – Week 2

Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee As noted last week, the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee (HEAS) was scheduled this past week to receive several reports, including the USHE Budget Priorities as adopted by the Board of Regents. Ruth Watkins, President at University of Utah, gave the first of the institution-based presentations to the Subcommittee. She touched on […]

Regents approve plan to place a college access advisor in every high school in Utah

The Utah Board of Regents has approved a statewide proposal at its meeting on Friday, September 21, 2018, that will put a permanent, full-time college access advisor in every high school in Utah. The near-peer college access advisor will help students register for and complete college entrance exams, submit college applications, apply for scholarships and financial aid, and connect […]

2018 Legislative update – Week 7 (Final Update)

The 2018 Legislative Session ended yesterday, March 8. The following is a brief summary of budget increases and key legislation. A more complete overview of the legislative session will be presented at the upcoming Board of Regents meeting on Friday, March 30, 2018. Budget Update Legislative leaders adopted priorities for the 2018-19 budget during the […]

2018 Legislative Update – Week 6

Budget Update Legislative leaders are in the final stages of compiling the 2018-19 budget in the final days of the legislative session. The Executive Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday to approve the major components of the new budget appropriations for consideration by the full legislature. The latest quarterly revenue estimates indicate there […]

2018 Legislative Update – Week 5

Revised Budget Revenues Announced The Legislature has $209 million more than expected to spend in budgets as it prepares the 2018-19 budget. This came from projections released by legislative analysts, the Governor’s Office and the Utah Tax Commission last week based on new quarterly revenue estimates: Additional details on the revenues are available here Legislation […]

2018 Legislative Update – Week 4

Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairs presented the subcommittee’s priorities to the Executive Appropriations Committee on Thursday. Final 2018-19 budget revenue projections are expected to be announced in the coming week. From this, additional budget action will be taken by Executive Appropriations Committee in the final weeks of the legislative session. […]

2018 Legislative Update – Week 2

The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee met twice this week, hearing from five of the eight USHE presidents. Each president advocated the Board of Regents’ unified budget priorities, and highlighted specific student successes and efficiencies in the past year. The subcommittee, as directed by the Executive Appropriations Committee, advanced three major adjustments to reduce the base […]

Higher Ed Appropriations approves performance funding model

The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved the Board of Regents’ recommended performance funding model at its October meeting. The Board adopted a revised outcomes-focused model based on legislation passed in the 2017 legislative session. S.B. 117 – Higher Education Performance Funding (Millner/Wilson), establishes the Performance Funding Restricted Account. The account is funded from 14 percent of […]

How are tuition waivers used across USHE?

What are tuition waivers? Tuition waivers are a type of financial aid used to help students pay for college. Student aid—a critical part of keeping college affordable—comes in many forms, including federal grants and scholarships. From a student perspective, all student aid serves the same purpose: reducing the out-of-pocket amount a student must pay for […]

Annual update on higher education finance shows Utah growth outpacing other states

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) recently released its annual update on state higher education finance (interactive report here). This report provides a useful state-by-state comparison of funding of public higher education. Utah is among 10 “boomerang states,” defined as those that had a 20% or larger cut in educational appropriations per FTE […]