Regents vote to raise tuition
A recent change to tuition policy will have students throughout Utah paying double tuition if they exceed 150 credit hours.
On Nov. 15, the Utah State Board of Regents changed the policy to require students who reach 125 percent of credit hours, or 150 credits, to pay twice the tuition. The previous limit was set at 135 percent. This year, there were six students at USU who would be affected by the current policy.
“So basically right now at the 135 percent level, a student can do 42 additional credits before they reach the maximum, which is about three semesters,” said USU registrar Roland Squires. “At the 125 percent level, it’s 30 additional credits, which is a little more than an extra year.”
Squires said there are a few exceptions, including students who do a double major. It also doesn’t apply to non-resident students, since they already pay twice as much as resident students for tuition.
“We spend a lot of time looking for any allowable things that would make it so they don’t have to pay for the credits,” Squires said.
Non-resident tuition is lower than resident tuition because resident tuition is subsidized by taxpayer dollars. Squires said if the student takes longer to graduate, the legislature wants to have those students pay more so tax dollars don’t have to subsidize those additional credits.
“And we just wanted to help students get done,” Squires said.
Squires said one of the main reasons students get behind in graduation is because they take too long to declare a major. He said it puts them behind academically while acquiring empty credits that don’t count toward a degree.
While additional credits affect tuition, students can still receive financial aid, but it has a limit. Steve Sharp, financial aid director at USU, said a bachelor’s degree requires 120 credits. If a student reaches 180 credits, which is 150 percent, they can no longer receive financial aid.
“People can do it all they want, but the government isn’t going to pay for it,” Sharp said.
USU notifies students when they are getting close to reaching an overage and suspends students from aid at 165 percent.
“But there are some conditions that they can appeal to get aid,” Sharp said.
He said high school credit and one major change can be exempt.
“Or if they are missionary students and have received language credits with a test, then we won’t count those against them either,” Squires said.
Blake Bowen, a junior, said the new changes to tuition is incentive for students to graduate earlier.
“I think it would definitely help me to speed up that process,” Bowen said.
He said students who spend longer than four years on their degree fill up spaces in classes, excluding those who need the class to graduate.
“But at the same time, more education can’t hurt, and they’re making the university money either way,” he said.
Bowen started school as an engineering major. After two years, he switched and will graduate with a degree in business economics.
“That’s probably a good policy,” Bowen said. “If I know that I’m going to have double tuition by just taking tons of classes, I’m going to minimize the amount of extra things that I’m doing just so I don’t have to run into that. It would work on me, that’s for sure.”
Senior Nicole Kerkman said she went through three majors to decide that marketing was for her. She will graduate in May after four-and-a-half years of college.
“I don’t think it’s fair to double the tuition because a student has learned what they don’t want to major in,” Kerkman said. “Some people dabble in more than others to find the right spot. If the tuition is doubled for too many credits, that might just cause students to just stick with something they hate simply because they can’t afford their passion.”
Sam Teahan, a software engineering major, said it will take him longer than four years to complete his schooling.
“In order to graduate, I would have had to take 17 or 18 credits every semester,” Teahan said. “I’d rather focus a little more on getting better grades and take 15 credits a semester than take 18 and have my grades struggle a little bit.”
The policy change will be in effect with new students enrolling in fall 2013. Squires said the university has programs to assist students in planning their graduation plan.
“Student Services can really provide a lot of help for students to move through the process,” Squires said. “Our objective isn’t to collect more money from students. The legislature, that’s their incentive, but we just want to help students meet their goals.”
– tmera.bradley@aggiemail.usu.edu