Albrecht: Expect proposal to raise Tier II tuition
USU faculty and staff need a 3 percent pay increase, which is twice what the Utah Legislature is considering, USU President Stan Albrecht said in a presentation to student government leaders Tuesday night.
Albrecht came to the USU Student Association Executive Council to warn them about a potential proposal for a Tier II tuition increase from his office, in addition to the requests made by student involvement.
“We’re going to make a proposal to you that really does not tie things down,” Albrecht said. “There’s really so much uncertainty now.”
Albrecht said the Legislature is discussing a potential 1.5 percent pay increase for faculty and staff at USU.
He said he thinks USU should receive a higher raise.
“We do a really good job at hiring strong faculty,” he said. “We do not do quite as good a job at retaining those faculty.”
Albrecht said faculty often leave USU because they find better salary elsewhere.
“We simply feel like we have to do better than 1.5 percent,” he said. “I’ve indicated to our senior team that we’d like to do 3 percent.”
According to the Utah System of Higher Education website, Tier II tuition is based on a recommendation by the institution’s president and board of trustees and is added to the first tier of tuition set by the Utah Legislature.
“Back in 2001, the Utah State Legislature passed a funding bill for our education that allowed each institution to collect funds for Tier II tuition,” Albrecht said.
He said when the bill passed 13 years ago, the state decided Tier I tuition would be set by the Board of Regents and mandated to be identical through all institutions, but allowed each school to set its own Tier II tuition. It’s also mandated that 25 percent of faculty salary comes from Tier II tuition.
Albrecht will make his final decision based on the Legislature’s announcement on Friday, Feb. 28 and then come to the USU/SA Executive Council with an official proposal.
“If I were sitting in your seat, I would expect a 3 percent Tier I increase, 2 percent Tier II increase for 5 percent total,” Albrecht said.
After Albrecht brings a proposal to the Executive Council, the group would need to approve it and pass it on to the Board of Trustees for approval. The state law then mandates a public hearing and public advertising of the potential increase.
The next Executive Council meeting is 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 4.
– daniellekmanley@gmail.com
Twitter: @daniellekmanley