College tuitions soaring

Higher-education officials bumped up tuition across the state Friday, adding the caveat that schools can't keep plucking from students' wallets when state funds come up short.

The average 8 percent to 10 percent increases in the system stem from lower-than-expected funding from the Legislature. That was a disappointment in a year of surplus, Board of Regents Chairman Nolan Karras said.

"We can't keep doing this just to keep bailing out the Legislature," he said. "The Legislature decided it'd rather not face the facts and instead they're taking money for roads. The students are paying to build those roads."

Karras said the higher-education budget shortfalls left Utah's schools looking to student tuition as a backup "pot of money."

All schools will have a systemwide 4 percent hike next year to fund compensation, and all but one school will impose an additional increase on students to fund school-specific projects.

While most schools set a 4 percent to 6 percent additional increase, Salt Lake Community College and Dixie State College were the outliers, with Dixie posting a 27 percent increase and SLCC refusing to impose a second-tier tuition raise.

"I gave my commitment to students that I would look to re-allocating internally instead of a tuition increase," SLCC President Cynthia Bioteau said. "It can't be this pattern of asking the students."

Instead, Bioteau said she's looking at long-term budget adjustments to scrounge up money for new programs and faculty.

At Dixie, President Lee Caldwell said reallocating funds would not be enough to cover shortfalls that have been worsening for years. Several years of low or no tuition increases at Dixie forced him to impose the 27 percent hike, Caldwell said Friday.

That increase will only apply to freshmen and sophomore students. They now will pay the same $2,100 tuition rate as upper level students. The school expanded its mission to include four-year degrees in 2002, but funding has not kept up with that new role and increased enrollment, Caldwell said.

Caldwell added that he will likely ask the Board of Regents for a similar tuition hike next year.

"We have to put a stake in the ground and say 'Wait a minute. You want Dixie to be a four-year-school, put up some money,' " Karras said.

Dixie State Student Body President Tony Cronk said he isn't overjoyed about the higher rates but understands the school needs to keep up with enrollment growth. The increase also isn't as daunting, Cronk said, because the flat rate actually means an 11 percent tuition decrease for juniors and seniors.

"It was sort of inevitable to maintain our academic competitiveness," Cronk said. "Once it's explained to students, they understand the idea behind it, and for the most part everyone seems to be on the same page."

The Board of Regents also approved fee hikes Friday with the highest increases at Weber State University at 8 percent and Utah Valley State College at 12 percent.

In other action Friday, the Board of Regents approved a request to allow the University of Utah to charge a higher tuition rate for undergraduate business majors.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com