Regents approve CEU, USU merger

OREM — Regent approval Friday of a resolution to merge the College of Eastern Utah with Utah State University has started the ball rolling for a transformation of higher education in southeastern Utah.

The recommendation to merge the two institutions will go before state legislators in the upcoming session and no doubt will elicit many questions from the public before a final decision is made. Rep. Patrick Painter, R-Price, has already opened a bill file and is working on a draft to present to lawmakers in January.

"At the end of the day, whatever can be done to make higher education flourish in that community must be considered," Regent Robert Marquardt said during the board meeting at Utah Valley University Friday. "It is maybe not ideal, but it's the best solution I see."

The transition will likely incur an estimated $3 million in absorbed costs for the Logan land-grant university, said USU President Stan Albrecht. He said the board would need to help the school, which has already suffered deep financial wounds from the latest round of budget cuts in the state.

Albrecht said he is "anxious" about the move, but believes it is "right for higher education in the state of Utah and for southeastern Utah."

CEU President Mike King said he's been doing his best to reassure employees at the struggling community college for months as its future has been hammered out a number of times without a final resolution.

He said he isn't sure if Friday's decision by the Regents is the right one, but he said he would work with the regents to make it work.

"It's always going to be more expensive to deliver education to rural Utah, but it's also always going to be worth it," King said, adding that the school's Price and Blanding campuses are the "anchor" of southeastern Utah's economy.

He's grateful there might be an end to the uncertainty facing the college's future for the past 18 months as study after study has been conducted.

The school has seen enrollment numbers drop for the past five years to the point of currently spending more state money per student than any institution in the state. For every dollar of tuition money CEU brings in, the state is spending $7.30, while at UVU, where enrollment numbers continue to grow, the state is spending $1.10 per student to educate them at the public institution.