Tax grads who leave? Idea quickly rejected

Troubled by the notion that some of Utah's brightest college students are flocking to other states, lawmakers on Thursday briefly dabbled with the idea that those who don't stay should pay.

A legislative tax study committee, amid some jokes, considered but quickly rejected the idea that public university college graduates would have to pay back part of their in-state college tuition if they found work outside of the state and left.

The idea is that such ingrates would pay part or all of the difference between the in-state tuition they paid and the out-of-state tuition for the time they were in college. For a four-year University of Utah in-state graduate who got his degree this June, that could be as much as $30,560.

"As a pragmatic matter, I don't know how you would make that work," said Rich Kendell, commissioner of higher education. It would be akin to a luxury tax on students who leave Utah for higher-paying jobs elsewhere, Kendell added.

Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, said he put the item on the committee's agenda at the request of several people who said it was unfair for Utah taxpayers to heavily subsidize a person's college education only to see the person leave the state upon graduation.

The state itself has a program where it pays for much of college tuition for qualified employees. But if the employee quits the state soon after graduating, then he has to pay back some of that benefit, Harper said.

"A number of other local governments and businesses have the same (tuition reimbursement) program," said Harper. So the question is asked, why should the state subsidize a person's public college education — like these other programs in effect do — by giving him discounted in-state tuition only to see him leave and the state get nothing for that investment?

But other members of the committee were stunned at the very idea.

"This has caught me so off guard," said Rep. Todd Kiser, R-Sandy. "I raise my children in this state. I'm a taxpayer. And my family is entitled to an education. What if a job is not afforded to graduates? Are we to penalize them?" he asked.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, had tongue-in-cheek idea: "Maybe we should just track students, see where they go to work. And then put ankle bracelets on them that set off an alarm when they leave the state."

Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, said the question of repayment may make sense to some. After all, he said, people who learn a trade, like a plumber or electrician, outside of higher education pay the whole cost. "And we don't subsidize them."

Getting a four-year college degree from a public school, however, "is heavily subsidized by taxpayers," even though students pay ever-growing tuition costs, he said.