Student-based lobby initiatives announced
Utah State University’s top priority, when lobbying the state Legislature, will be the repeal of House Bill 331, which changed residency requirements from 30 credits to 60.
The bill has had huge financial consequences on the university, said Tagg Archibald, Associated Students of USU executive vice president.
Archibald’s presentation was made Tuesday night to a group of students, administrators and a state legislator. They met to discuss issues important to higher education that will be priorities when lobbying this next session.
HB 331, intended to raise $5 million by increasing the time non-residents pay out-of-state tuition, has failed, Archibald said. Only $100,000 has been gained state wide, Archibald said, and institutions near state borders that depend on out-of-state students are hurting because of a drop in enrollment of those students.
USU is among the institutions that have been hurt the most, Archibald said. A large portion of the out-of-state students USU receives come from Idaho, he said, and large numbers of Idaho students transferred to Idaho schools when HB 331 was enacted in 2002.
“It was unfortunate the bill was put in place the same year BYU-Idaho became a four-year university,” he said. “This has affected scores and scores of students and put them deeper in debt.”
More than 400 students have been lost from Idaho since HB 331 was put in place, equating to a loss of $2.28 million in tuition alone, Archibald said. The cost is even higher when money spent on housing, food and recreation is taken into account, hurting the valley’s economy in also, he said.
It is unfair to ask schools to make up for this kind of financial loss at the same time funding is being cut, Archibald said.
Scott Wyatt, who was recently elected District 5’s Utah House representative, attended the meeting and said getting the state Legislature to repeal the bill would be difficult without the support of other schools.
ASUSU President Les Essig said he has talked with many of the student leaders from other state universities and the support is there.
Wyatt said support from Utah Valley State College would be crucial as one of the main creators of the bill is a representative from Utah County. Wyatt said it is also important to remember that Logan is the economic center of many Idaho communities that are close to the border and spend valuable money and add to the tax base in Cache Valley.
“These are towns that are right across the border and who are die-hard Aggie fans,” said Lee Burke, USU government relations.
Archibald said students who take their concerns about HB 331 to legislators should be careful in how they approach the topic.
“We don’t want to overstep our bounds and come across as immature students,” he said.
The executive director of the Utah Student Association, Carrie Flamm, was also at the meeting and presented USA’s top initiatives for the upcoming Legislative session. USA is an organization of student leaders from all 12 of Utah’s higher education institutions.
The initiatives include improving student advising, funding for ongoing need-based financial aid, voting improvements for students and funding for the library consortium.
“We don’t want [students] priced out of an education,” Flamm said concerning the need for financial aid funding.
Flamm said USA intends to present same-day registration as a way to improve voting rates among students. Placement of voting poll stations in student centers will also be presented as an option.
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu
Students listen to a presentation about House Bill 331. Other issues concerning higher education that will be lobbied in the upcoming Legislative session were also announced. The initiatives were based on input from student leaders across the state and include making voting easier for students and funding financial aid. (Photo by John Zsiray)