2 bills in works would help fund higher ed

The resounding message from business leaders and higher education officials to the state's new economy governor and to the 2005 Legislature is this: Fund public higher education now like never before if you want a successful Utah economy down the road.

To that end, the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday learned of at least two bills that are in the works to find a lot more money — possibly in the form of revenue bonds — for public higher education in addition to requests currently on the table.

First, the committee was unanimous in support of recommending $2 million in one-time and ongoing funds for the 4-year-old engineering and computer science initiative.

"This is a big deal to the state," said Rep. Kory M. Holdaway, R-Taylorsville.

So big that Holdaway is planning a bill to find even more money for an initiative that since 2000 has increased the number of engineering and computer science bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees by almost 36 percent to 1,624.

Between the state and matching funds from nine institutions, more than $16 million from the initiative has helped toward hiring more professors and offering more courses.

It's a big deal to the state's economy because 70 percent of the first crop of graduates since the initiative started are finding jobs in Utah, making on average about $60,000 a year and contributing about $2 million to the state's income tax base, according to John Sutherland, chairman of the Technology Initiative Advisory Board.

Business leaders told committee members that the demand for engineers in Utah continues to rise and that if colleges can't meet the demand, then they would need to move their companies to another state.

Committee members also recommended approval of $50,000 to continue an engineering loan-forgiveness program that offers students who agree to work as engineers for at least four years in Utah a one-year loan forgiveness of tuition and fees.

The Utah College of Applied Technology also jumped in Wednesday with a request for $2.8 million in addition to its base budget request for what are being called "Jobs Now" programs. More jobs in certain skill areas are available in this state than UCAT can train people for — the money would be used to hire more faculty for six regions served by UCAT.

The really big "if" is whether a bill being drafted by current co-sponsors by Sens. Greg Bell, R-Farmington, and Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, can land at least a sizable chunk of a $400 million wish list.

From that, $125 million would go toward research "clusters" at the U. and USU, focusing on areas like life sciences, biotechnology, watersheds, weather, neuroscience and information technology.