Budget 2010: Higher education

Higher education institutions in the state are being given flexibility to handle the additional 3 percent budget cut for the current fiscal year, and some are toying with the idea of putting a tuition surcharge on the backs of students for the upcoming semester.

The University of Utah would have to impose a 5 percent tuition increase, effective immediately, in order to come up with the necessary funds, and coupled with record enrollment growth, many schools would need even more than that.

"We are going to be at risk of cancelling classes we've already enrolled students in and laying off additional adjunct and full-time faculty," said Salt Lake Community College President Cynthia Bioteau.

Budgets for the upcoming year that begins July 1, 2010, will be untouched, according to the governor. Higher Education Commissioner William Sederburg feels that is a fair trade for what the system has already been through.

— Wendy Leonard