Utah tuition hikes may be unavoidable

College tuition in Utah seems destined to rise every year over the next five years if any one of 25 budget scenarios plays out the way higher education officials plan.

But on Friday, the State Board of Regents didn't settle for what seems to be the inevitable, which assumes there will be no "major" infusion of state financial support anytime soon.

Instead, the scenarios created by Utah System of Higher Education officials spurred what many at the meeting called one of the most productive talks they had ever attended.

"It forced a healthy discussion," regents Chairman Nolan Karras said.

At stake is the health of state-funded higher education, which in recent years has slid down the scale of legislative priorities behind budget items like Medicaid, highways, health and human services, retirement funds for state employees and public education, according to regents.

"You're competing with a lot of other things," said Commissioner of Higher Education Rich Kendell.

The resulting fiscal maladies are many, from about $34 million in unfunded students and millions more in unfunded operations, maintenance, fuel and power costs to faculty leaving the state for better-paying jobs and a recent history of little to no increase in state support, which still accounts for about two-thirds of what it costs to educate a college student here.

"We have to deal with compensation for faculty as a primary goal," Kendell said.

Utah State University President Kermit Hall said that, when state funds are scarce, higher education is seen as an entity capable of raising the price of its product — hiking tuition — to compensate.

"That is a singular point and a critical point in this discussion," he said. Hall recently saw one of his key administrators accept a $67,000 pay increase for a job in another state — Hall could only offer $20,000 more.

But as regents vice chairman George Mantes pointed out, the Legislature doesn't have an "appetite" to see the trend of rising tuition continue. Over the past five years, tuition has risen 31 percent at two-year colleges and 42 percent at four-year colleges and universities, which still leaves tuition here below regional and national averages.

Regent Jed Pitcher suggested raising tuition every year to the point where Utah rates at least come up to regional averages.

Worst-case manifestations of all these ills include the decline in quality of a higher education in Utah, average yearly tuition hikes of at least 10 percent a year for the next five years, closing the doors to any new growth down the road and a less-educated and productive population, regents said Friday.