OREM — It's official: Utah Valley State College will become Utah Valley University on July 1, 2008.

To the roll of a timpani drum, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Monday signed into law SB70, which will give the 23,000-student school university status and $8 million in additional yearly funds.

Balloons of the school's colors — green, white and yellow — dropped from the ceiling of UVSC's ballroom after the signing, and the bill was whisked to the state Capitol in Salt Lake City.

Prior to the signing, the governor reminded students of the responsibility associated with the prestige of a university degree.

"Now more than ever before that sense of (ethical integrity) will be expected out of the students," he said.

More than 1,000 students, faculty, community and church and business leaders celebrated the bill's signing with cake and soft drinks.

About a dozen people spoke at the event. Messages of appreciation went around, jokes were told and the audience gave several standing ovations.

"As you transition to a university, leadership matters," Huntsman said. "I want all of you to know what a great president we have in our midst."

The governor credited UVSC President William A. Sederberg, who arrived in Orem in 2003 from Michigan's Ferris State University, for pushing university status by courting lawmakers and selling the idea to the community.

The school, which will become the state's fifth university, offers 54 bachelor's degrees. The first graduate degrees will likely be in instructional education, nursing health sciences and business, Sederberg said.

President Thomas S. Monson, a member of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said that in his world travels, he meets people with family members who work and study at UVSC.

He said he's happy it will soon be Utah Valley University.

"I see great things, a bright future for this great institution," President Monson said.

President Monson attended the 1975 ground-breaking for the location of the Orem school. He formerly served on the governor-appointed Utah State Board of Regents, which oversees the state's public colleges and universities.

President Monson and LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley also were present to commemorate the construction of the LDS Church's Orem Institute of Religion, a building adjacent to UVSC that offers religion classes to college students.

The Orem institute is one of the biggest in the church's education system.

"You see," President Monson said, "we knew this would be a university."

Justin Davies, who will be a student body officer next year, said students' degrees will have more value with the word "university." And they soon won't have to leave UVSC if they want master's degrees.