Tech schools cost state less than 2-year colleges, audit says

Hour for hour, technical education costs the state less when offered at one of the Utah College of Applied Technology campuses rather than at two-year colleges in Utah.

The Legislative Auditor General's Office conducted a review of instruction and overhead costs during the past year — visiting all eight UCAT campuses statewide and three two-year colleges that offer some of the same short-term and vocational or trade-specific training — and found costs are nearly half as much at applied technology colleges.

UCAT Chairman Tom Bingham agreed with the findings, saying UCAT is a cheaper option for the state. Although the two systems serve different missions, he said, "both systems are vital to the state's work force and economy."

UCAT instructors apparently don't get paid as much and students aren't required to pay as much tuition and fees to cover other costs. Other discrepancies arise from differing maintenance and facility costs as well as what each campus offers students in its total package.

UCAT, however, doesn't grant credit for the hours students spend in class — while colleges do.

According to the audit report released Wednesday, both types of institutions aim to meet the state's need for a highly skilled work force. However, "colleges focus more broadly on providing students with a comprehensive education while ATCs focus more narrowly on helping students quickly obtain the skills they need to get a job."

Lawmakers ordered the report in 2008, before a new bill passed separating UCAT from the Board of Regents, which governs the state's nine public colleges and universities. Their intent was to determine whether funds for career and technical education are distributed equitably.

Of the six programs examined, ATCs offered the same or similar training for significantly less, more than $10 per class hour in some cases. The audit results are quite different than prior cost comparisons presented by the Utah System of Higher Education, which in 2007 overstated the number of hours of instruction offered in college-based career and technical education courses resulting in understated costs associated, according to the report.

Specifically, higher education reported that instruction offered at SLCC was less expensive than it was at Salt Lake/Tooele Applied Technology College. However, the audit determined that costs are fairly similar and instead of being $7.47 per hour are $12.39 at SLCC, whereas they were $12.60 per hour at the Salt Lake/Tooele college.