A comprehensive look at the state's three community colleges gave leaders an idea of what needs to be done to boost enrollment and participation.

Talk of underwriting tuition at the two-year colleges across the state was on the table during Thursday's Board of Regents Strategic Planning and Communications Committee meeting. The objective is to give students a "jump start" to higher education. The recommendation, which aims to solve Utah's low enrollment rates, could be presented to the Legislature early next year.

"Extending education from the high school level right into higher education at the community colleges is the jump start we need," said Lucille Stoddard, Utah's associate commissioner for academic affairs. She said asking lawmakers for more than $50 million to fund the first two years of some students' tuition is not far-fetched, considering the return on the investment.

"Community colleges in this state are not well understood at all," she said, adding that higher education's commitment to students in rural areas of the state could change the economy.

Nearly half of all undergraduate students in the United States are currently enrolled in community colleges, evidently making the schools a significant step for students who eventually attend a four-year college or university, said Salt Lake Community College President Cynthia Bioteau. In Utah, about 22 percent of undergrads are enrolled in two-year institutions.

"We meet people where they are and take them to the next level," she said, emphasizing the mission of a community college, which is to be a pipeline to either other institutions or the work force.

Maintaining various access points on the community college level, Bioteau said, is essential to accomplishing their mission. She presented at least six points that "invite traditional and under-served populations to begin, resume, continue and succeed with higher education and skills training," according to the report she and Stoddard developed for the regents. Those access points, which community colleges are able to offer because of their size and ability to be flexible, include developmental education, career and technical education, transfer opportunities, continuing education, noncredit training and student support.

"Community colleges make it possible to see the different faces that make up the skyline of a community," Bioteau said. She said it is the access points of the community colleges that make jobs in the community possible, which in turn makes them "healthy and successful."

To underwrite tuition at the College of Eastern Utah, Snow College and SLCC, the state would have to allocate $3 million, $5.5 million and $41 million to the respective institutions. The goal would be to entice more high school graduates into higher education, thus creating a much larger return on the investment.

"So many students are not going to college," Bioteau said. "It would be great to have in place the incentives it would take for high school students to have the first two years paid for them."

Discussion of the the idea will continue at the regents level, and it is leaning toward being a priority for the upcoming legislative session, said Regent Meghan Holbrook.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com