Residency changes continue to hurt USU
Utah State University has taken a huge financial hit since House Bill 331 was passed, according to university officials.
The bill’s effects were projected to bring an extra $5 million to the university by increasing the credit hours and doubling the time out-of-state students must live in the state before receiving resident tuition rates. But, USU and other Utah universities are seeing negative effects, said Lee Burke, the university’s assistant to the president for government relations.
Originally introduced by Jeff Alexander, a state legislator who represents Utah Valley State College, Alexander feared the college was growing too quickly. Burke said the point of the bill was to make obtaining residency more difficult for out-of-state students.
Some predictions were that students from out of Utah would pay more money to go to their desired university, but in reality, students just stopped coming, Burke said.
It has not taken long for university officials to realize that HB 331 has been more detrimental than beneficial, though.
HB 331 requires that a student either lives in the state for two consecutive years or has a minimum of 60 credit hours to pay in-state tuition. The student must pick one requirement or the other, but cannot mix the two. The problem is that part-time students, working to pay for school, cannot finish 60 credit hours in two years sometimes. So more often than not, residency actually takes three years, Burke said.
Out-of-state tuition at USU for undergraduate students averages around $5,300, $3,500 more than the average $1,800 in-state tuition for undergraduate students, according to the USU Web site. Those numbers include tuition and fees.
According to a report by Burke, from 1998 to 2004, USU has lost 500 students from Idaho alone. Burke said the requirements are especially unfair to students who live so close to the Utah border. Students from Preston, Idaho, for example contribute to Logan’s community as if they were Utah residents. They grocery shop here, they attend church here and they should be able to attend the university here for the same price as everyone else, he said.
Another serious blow came when two-year Ricks College becoming four-year BYU-Idaho. Idaho students desiring to attend a four-year university no longer had to come to Utah.
USU’s budget was hit hard again, Burke said, when former USU President Kermit L. Hall decided to honor commitments to students already attending USU who expected to pay in-state tuition after one year instead of two.
In 2003 HB 75 was passed which created 500 tuition waivers to non-resident students. USU got 220 waivers, Burke said, which was the bulk of the money distributed, but the bill has a sunset clause, which means that on July 1, 2007, five years after the bill was passed, the university will no longer receive any tuition waivers, Burke said.
USU has fought to remove, or loosen HB 331.
In the past legislative session another bill, HB 338 was designed in hope to removed the sunset clause from HB 75, as well as obtain 200 more tuition waivers for colleges and universities in the state, Burke said.
The bill was not passed. It went through the Utah House with unanimous support, but reached the Senate too late. The Senate did not have time to review the bill before the session closed. Burke said that USU will return next year and keep trying for more money.
Burke said there was a glimmer of hope for out-of-state students in legislation. Susan Lawrence, a legislator from Salt Lake City, was able to create new rules for HB 331 that will help part-time students. The new rule say if a student lives in Utah for three years, and takes some classes they can become a resident.
This now allows students to go to school, or take some time off to work. They can mix credit hours with time living in Utah, and whichever requirement is met first will grant them residency. Burke said USU officials were not happy with this adjustment; officials wanted to see the required years in the state to remain at two years and still be able to mix that with credit hours.
Many students who have planned on attending USU might be rethinking their plans.
“I don’t know how I am going to come up with the extra money. Having three other siblings in college makes it really tough on all of us, especially my parents, to pay for our schooling. As much as I would love to stay at Utah State, I don’t know if I will be able to come up with the money,” said Liz Lyon, a freshman majoring in music education.
USU will return to the Utah Legislature next year and continue to fight for improvements on tuition for out-of-state students, officials say. It is important for students to take control of their education, and become active participators in lobbying and trying to have their voices heard, Burke said.
“We will keep working because it is a problem for Utah State, and we will keep trying,” he said.
-megliso@cc.usu.edu