Utahns split on a move to alter tuition

Utah is losing its out-of-state students, but higher education leaders are hoping to lure some of those students back with legislation to ease the requirements for paying the cheaper in-state tuition rate.

Utah residents, however, appear split on the move, according to a recent Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll that shows a slight majority of surveyed residents want those eligibility requirements lessened.

The poll, conducted Feb. 6-8 with a margin of error of 5 percent, shows 52 percent of 418 respondents surveyed statewide think in-state tuition requirements should definitely or probably be reduced to one year of living in the state.

Currently, students have to either live in the state for three years or have taken 60 credit hours at a Utah school before becoming eligible for the in-state rate — which can sometimes be about a third the cost of out-of-state tuition.

Forty-three percent of respondents said the requirement should probably or definitely not be reduced.

"All of our schools feel like this would be a good change. It's not just our schools, but our students and economic development who are benefiting," said Dave Buhler, associate commissioner of higher education in Utah. "Most of these out-of-state students do stay here after they graduate."

HB118, sponsored by Rep. Jack Draxler, R-North Logan, has already passed out of the House Education Committee and is now waiting to be sent to the full House for debate. The bill would allow each Utah college or university to decide if it will lower the requirements to one year or keep the current qualifications.

Utah legislators increased the residency requirements several years ago in hopes of bringing in more tuition dollars from students flowing in from Idaho and Wyoming. Instead, schools saw enrollments dip as students took their dollars elsewhere.

The number of nonresident students taking courses at Utah schools fell by almost 600 from the 2004-05 school year to 13,975 students in the 2005-06 school year, according to Utah System of Higher Education data. The number is up, however, from 10 years ago when there were about 10,200 nonresident students in the system.

"We're in a period right now of flat enrollment growth. Most of that is demographic because the high school graduates have flattened out," Buhler said. "This is a time when we could use a little more growth."

Utah State University was hit particularly hard by the out-of-state student exodus with nonresident students falling from 2,500 in 2000 to about 2,150 last year.