The quest to make Utah Valley State College a full-fledged university breezed through its initial hearing in the Senate on Friday.

The bill still faces one more vote in the Senate before moving on to the House, but the unanimous preliminary vote Friday gave UVSC President William Sederburg hope he won't be facing much opposition.

"There's a great understanding and consensus that the time is right for this," he said.

Sederburg also attributes the support for making UVSC into Utah Valley University in 2008 to Senate President John L. Valentine's sponsorship of SB70, the bill that would make the Utah County college into a Type II university, putting it on par with Weber State University and Southern Utah University.

"For Utah County and the state of Utah, this is a really big deal. UVSC is the fastest-growing institution in the state. It has an overwhelming demand," said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo. "Moving it to university status will assist in meeting the demands that our sons and daughters have in going to college."

The move to university status comes with a price tag of about $10 million to get the school on par with its in-state peers. More money may be needed to put the school on the same funding and faculty levels as its national counterparts.

Sederburg, however, has assured legislators that the school will not be back to ask for another large sum after the ongoing commitment of $10 million.

Some of that extra cash is already flowing in from millionaire and donor Ira Fulton. Fulton told Senate members Friday that he is closing in on raising $10 million to match the Legislature's contribution.

"If you want to match me with more, I'll go out and raise more," he said. "It gives me goose bumps to see the vote."

The majority of those funds would go toward strengthening the school's undergraduate degrees, with about $1.1 million funding new graduate programs such as nursing and education.

Getting that funding along with the mission and name change is essential, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said.

"If we don't do that, we've really made a false promise just because we've changed the name," he said.

Bramble, who pitched the bill on the Senate floor, said UVSC needs to infuse more full-time faculty and advisers into the school's system, which has been making do with lagging state funds.

Students have picked up much of the cost with some of the highest tuition increases in the state. Students at UVSC also pay a higher portion of faculty salaries than students at other state schools.

"We don't always want to be the bottom feeder," Sederburg said. "We have to be competitive in tuition."

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