Not all support Utah Valley U.

OREM — While Utah lawmakers appear ready to make Utah Valley State College a university, some people are questioning whether there is a genuine need for another state university.

"In my role as chair of the faculty senate, I'm not happy to have that occur," said Bruce Handley of Weber State University.

Handley worries that the $10 million in state money UVSC needs to hire more faculty and advisers and start graduate programs will take away money available for Weber State.

UVSC President Bill Sederburg says he just wants to respond to the community's ample needs for a university — the need for graduate programs at a public school in Utah County.

SB70, if passed, provides the Orem college of 23,000 students $10 million more annually for university status and changes its name to Utah Valley University.

"I'm not sure you can fast-track that and buy your way into that kind of status," Handley said, adding that Weber State College's transition to a university took decades.

"We progressed naturally to the point where we were ready to become a university ... If (UVSC is) not ready, they're not ready," he said.

Handley also is skeptical that the needs of a proposed UVU can be satisfied with $10 million and believes the school will return to the Legislature in the future with requests for more money.

Utah Higher Education Commissioner Rich Kendell has acknowledged that it could cost up to $25 million annually in extra tax dollars to make UVSC a full-fledged university. But Kendell also told lawmakers that UVSC administrators will not ask for any more than $10 million, as the gap will be filled with tuition dollars from an increasing enrollment.

In Utah, university status is achieved once a college begins offering graduate programs.

UVSC leaders are proposing master's degrees in education, nursing education and business administration.

"The state of Utah needs to be very careful and be very sure there is a compelling societal need" for a Utah Valley University, said Clifton Conrad, a professor of higher education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Taxpayers may save money if UVSC remained a college and the state's other universities provided graduate programs on campus through extension programs. For instance, Utah State University currently offers an education doctorate with classes at UVSC's Wasatch Campus.

Online and "hybrid" programs, which combine online learning with some visits to campus, could be a cost-saving option, Conrad said.

"I studied the accounting program at BYU a couple of years ago," Conrad said. "And I remember one of the courses there, the instructor (and students) only met eight times, and he had the rest of it online."