Education benefits, waivers for employees 'ingrained'

Utah's public colleges and universities aren't getting the state funding help they need for enrollment growth, and lawmakers are telling school officials to run more cost-effective institutions.

As the Utah Board of Regents, which oversees public higher education, meets throughout this fall to discuss budget strategies and how to approach lawmakers in 2005 for more money, institutional policies that govern employee education benefits and tuition waivers given to thousands of people annually probably won't change much this year — or anytime in the near future.

"This is now pretty much ingrained into the employment factor," said Rich Kendell, Utah commissioner of Higher Education. "I don't think it's going to change dramatically."

In fiscal year 2003, employee education benefits and student waivers surpassed $41 million. That was more than a $6 million increase from FY 2002.

"It is a lot of money," Kendell said.

Nearly $15 million in tuition was waived in FY 2003 just for resident students, many of whom received merit scholarships from the schools they attended.

Another $12.4 million in nonresident waivers was awarded in that year — over half from Utah State University — to out-of-state students.

The reason that becomes important is because the state law changed two years ago that now forces out-of-state students to take 60 semester hours of classes — about two years of school — before they can be considered residents, which means lower tuition. Under the old law, a student couldn't be considered a resident until after attending school here for one calender year.

The new law has already had a "horrendous" impact on the number of Idaho students headed to USU, said provost Stan Albrecht. An out-of-state or "border" waiver is "critical" to attracting some of the "strongest" students to USU, he said.

The two areas of student waivers need to be recognized as part of the state's overall financial aid package, said state legislative fiscal analyst Boyd Garriott.

State law, Garriott added, allows for public institutions to allocate 10 percent of their projected tuition revenues toward waivers, which turns into money those schools don't collect. The law allows for nearly 20 different types of waivers.

Included in those who also receive waivers are school employees, their spouses and dependents, retirees and their relatives and children or spouses of deceased employees — all getting a higher education for free or at a significantly reduced cost. It's a benefit that's considered "standard" across the country.