Measure to ease tuition for non-Utahns

Out-of-state students could be paying less for a university education in Utah with a bill passed out of the House Education Committee on Thursday to give more non-residents a break on tuition.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Craig Buttars, R-Lewiston, waives the non-resident portion of tuition for a greater number of students, upping the available tuition waiver to 900 from 500 students. Only 675 of those would be 100 percent waivers while the other 225 could waive up to 50 percent of the out-of-state tuition rate.

Dropping enrollment at Utah State University was the main catalyst for the bill, although USU President Stan Albrecht was quick to point out to the committee that all state universities and colleges could offer the waiver.

The Logan school is losing its historic population of Wyoming and Idaho residents, Albrecht said, because of high tuition rates for non-residents. Currently, a year at the university costs Utah residents about $3,500 and out-of-staters nearly $10,000.

Albrecht attributes the loss of nearly 1,000 students from the 17,000-student school in the past three years to that non-resident tuition. Many students choose to attend Idaho schools instead, he said.

"They've chosen to go somewhere else because of cost, not because they think they'll get a better education," he said. "These are students who want to come and their parents want them to come. This provides an additional incentive for them."

Losing those students, Albrecht added, not only means less revenue for the university, it also means a loss for the city and state in student housing revenues, tourism and food sales.

"If we do not fill these classrooms with enough students, eventually we're going to have to do away with programs," Albrecht said.

Although the committee passed on the legislation to the whole House, Rep. David Hogue, R-Riverton, and Rep. James Ferrin, R-Orem, voted against the measure. Ferrin said he would rather the state invest in recruiting more in-state students to apply to USU.

"A $6,800 cost break would be a big incentive. I'd rather see us marketing towards Utah kids," he said.

The committee also urged Buttars to consider tweaking the language to ensure out-of-state applicants are held to a higher academic standard before they receive waivers or take the spot of an in-state student.

---

E-mail: estewart@desnews.com