2022 Legislative Update: Week 6

February 22-25, 2022 Executive Appropriations Committee Adopts Higher Education Funding Items The Executive Appropriations Committee adopted proposed new funding items this evening (in addition to the base budget increases adopted early in the 2022 legislative session that includes a 5.75% employee compensation market increase). The proposed items to higher education are closely aligned to the […]

2022 Legislative Update: Week 5

February 14-18, 2022 Updated State Budget Revenues Announced Governor Cox and legislative leadership announced revised tax revenue projections on Friday, higher than projections adopted in December 2021 by the Executive Appropriations Committee:   Dec 2021 Feb 2022 General Fund (Sales Tax):   $245 million $1.04 billion Education Fund (Income Tax):  $685 million $2.75 billion According to […]

2022 Legislative Update: Week 4

February 5-11, 2022 Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee wrapped up its work on Wednesday, February 9 and submitted its list of priority budget requests (page 4) to the Executive Appropriations Committee on Friday. This Subcommittee’s priorities closely align with the Utah Board of Higher Education’s budget priorities adopted in September 2021. […]

2022 Legislative Update: Week 3

January 31 – February 4, 2022 Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee continued its meetings this week and received presentations from the remaining USHE institutions. Below are links to the institutions’ presentations: Southern Utah University  University of Utah Utah State University Utah Tech/Dixie State University Utah Valley University Weber State University The […]

Report: Utah saw 82% decrease in state need-based financial aid over the last decade

The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education released Tuition and Fees in the West 2018-19: Trends and Implications, which discusses the results of the 2018-19 survey of Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, as well as recent trends in state fiscal support and state grant aid. This data can also be […]

Overview: 2019 legislative session outcomes

At the Board of Regents meeting on March 29, 2019, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education presented a report on the outcomes of the legislative session. Budget Beginning July 1, 2019, the Legislature approved a $96.1 million increase (9.4%) in ongoing tax funds and a one-time increase of $2.2 million (0.2%) for higher education. […]

2019 Legislative Update – Week 6

Budget Update The Legislature’s focus on tax reform continued this week until Thursday when efforts stopped and state leaders announced they will continue efforts beyond the legislative session over the coming months. On Friday, scheduled Executive Appropriations meetings to adopt a new budget were cancelled and lawmakers involved in designing the budget were reportedly expecting […]

Trends in Higher Ed: State need-based financial aid

States invest in need-based financial aid programs to promote access and success for students who might not otherwise be able to afford postsecondary education. Nationally, expenditures in state financial aid programs continue to steadily increase. The annual report of the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs, or NASSGAP, finds that the amount […]

2019 Legislative Update – Week 5

Budget Update All of the Legislature’s budget attention has been focused on a tax overhaul bill that was released this week and adopted by the House Revenue and Tax Committee on Friday. Talk of tax restructuring has pervaded this year’s legislative session as the state’s latest revenue projections show almost 10 times the amount of […]