Utah tuition costs rise but still called a bargain

While tuition costs in Utah have outpaced the national average for several years, leaders in higher education maintain that students are still making a wise investment.

"It's not a secret that the tuition costs are going up, but at the same time, the quality of our education programs is definitely competitive, and I think we're still a bargain state if you compare us to other states in the region," said Amanda Covington, spokeswoman for Utah's System of Higher Education. "We used to be a low-tuition state. I wouldn't call us that anymore."

Utah's tuition has grown at a pace of 8 or 9 percent per year in the past five years, Covington said. Nationally, the price of college rose faster than the inflation rate this year, landing a 6.6 percent increase at four-year public schools.

The latest increases, reported Monday by the College Board, bring the average list price of four-year public universities to $6,185 this year, up $381 from 2006-07. At four-year private colleges, tuition and fees rose 6.3 percent to $23,712. Utah's average tuition and fees for two consecutive, full-time semesters falls just below $10,000, as reported by the Board of Regents.

Public two-year colleges — which educate about half of American college students — again got the best marks for keeping a lid on price increases. Their average price rose 4.2 percent to $2,361. Accounting for aid, their average net cost is only $320 per year.

"We are constantly scrutinizing our tuition costs to ensure that we're not pricing college outside the reach of students," said Deneece Huftalin, vice president of student services at Salt Lake Community College. She said community colleges have kept costs low in order to maintain the open-door, open-access vision they were founded on.

"We are very intentional about trying to keep our costs down, but sometimes that's hard on us," she said. "It's often a tricky balance between needing some things and wanting to improve in some areas or grow in some areas, but not wanting to do so on the backs of students."

The published price is not the real price for many students, thanks to financial aid, but the net price is rising, too. On average, accounting for grants and tax breaks, the net price for full-time students at four-year public universities this year is $2,580. That's about $160 more than last year.

The rate of growth in private borrowing slowed last year due to new rules in place, but for undergraduates, private borrowing still rose 12 percent to $14.5 billion.