Legislation proposed to complicate residency
An act modifying the State System of Higher Education Code, which amends the definition of a resident student, passed in the last legislative session and could potentially have an enormous affect on non-resident students in the state of Utah.
“A person who has come to Utah and established residency for the purpose of attending an institution of higher education shall, prior to registration as a resident student: Maintain continuous Utah residency status while completing 60 semester credit hours at a regionally accredited Utah higher education institution or an equivalent number of applicable contact hours at the Utah College of Applied Technology,” According to the amendment.
Students must also demonstrate other residency evidence including a Utah driver’s license, Utah motor vehicle registration, Utah resident income taxes, employment in Utah and Utah banking connections, according to the legislation.
Associated Students of Utah State University President Steve Palmer said this legislation went through on what is called a “boxcar bill.” Legislators must submit bills prior to the coming session, so they submit a boxcar bill which is blank in order to have one handy in case they need to quickly submit new legislation.
Palmer said with less than a week left in the session legislators saw $5 million more was needed in the budget. The bill was sponsored by Jeff Alexander and was written and passed in three days.
“They saw a number and could either tax, raise tuition or this,” Palmer said. “It was poorly written and not well thought out.”
Palmer said if the bill is signed, though all the schools in Utah will be affected, USU will be hit the hardest having one-third of Utah’s out-of-state student population and being so close to Idaho and Wyoming.
He said retention will suffer as well as diversity.
“We don’t exactly live in the most diverse state,” Palmer said. “If this is signed we will lose a large chunk of diversity on campus.”
ASUSU Executive Vice President Celestial Starr Bybee said the legislation singles out out-of-state students. She said the bill demands so much that it takes away the right out-of-state students have to be here.
“In situations like this it is more important to act than to react,” Bybee said. “We [ASUSU] are doing all we can. A lot of what we do is behind the scenes, talking to the right people at the right place at the right time.”
Palmer said President Hall has written the governor requesting a veto based on constitutional issues. He also said that he, along with all the other student body presidents in the state, are making up a resolution and forwarding it to the governor.
Bybee is also initiating an e-mail campaign. She encourages everyone to e-mail the governor at governor@utah.gov to urge him to veto.
“It seems small,” Bybee said. “But the e-campaign will back up everything else that we are trying to do.”
Palmer also plans to have a statewide rally at the capitol on Wednesday and is arranging for transportation for students. For more information students can e-mail Palmer at palmer@cc.usu.edu, or Bybee at celestial@cc.usu.edu. Flyers will also be handed out Monday and Tuesday.
“I think that we really have a chance on this,” Palmer said. “Students just need to make their voices heard.”
“What students need to know is that we have been working all year with the governor and legislators in this realm,” Bybee said. “We need to trust that Steve knows what he is doing.”
History education major Tom Robins, a sophomore, and economic finance major Matt Coulter, a freshman, have researched this legislation and formulated some facts about the effect this bill will have on students if it is signed.
1) All out-of-state transfer students will not be able to apply credit from out-of-state schools to the required 60 credits needed for in-state status.
2) All out-of-state freshmen will not be eligible for in-state tuition next year, even if they stay and work in Utah this summer.
3) Many students affected by this legislation have already signed contracts and put down housing deposits for next year.
4) In many cases, it is too late to apply to other schools if transfers are necessary.
5) If government assistance is needed for out-of-state tuition, many applications have already been submitted.
6) Student retention will decrease. Diversity will decrease.
7) The Success program will no longer be effective.
Coulter, who is in Success along with many other out-of-state students said he will have to leave the state if it is not vetoed.
“The Success program is pointless now,” said J. T. Oman, a freshman majoring in landscape architecture who is currently in the program. “The whole purpose I came here was because we were offered in-state in a year. I will probably end up transferring out of state.”
Coulter and Robins are holding an information rally at 12:30 p.m. on the Taggart Student Center patio Tuesday. Students can come sign petitions and get information about the rally at the capitol. They will also have names and e-mail addresses of people students can contact for the e-mail campaign.
“I just hope we can get this thing turned around,” Bybee said. “The more support, the more voices and the more students, the better chance we have.”