The Utah State Board of Regents approved the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) budget request and prioritized the USHE capital facilities requests during its meeting on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 at Weber State University in Ogden in preparation for the 2018 Legislative Session.
“Funding these budget priorities will help institutions move the needle in critical areas essential to student success, and will give students more resources and support they need to succeed,” said Dave Buhler, Commissioner of Higher Education. “I look forward to working with the Governor, legislature, and institutional presidents in the coming months to advance these key priorities.”
USHE’s budget request would be a 5.3% total increase. It is an 8.8% increase in state funds and assumes a 1.2% increase in first tier tuition for legislatively required compensation increases.
The priorities reflect the most pressing needs of USHE institutions as well as the strategic objectives of the Board of Regents, including Affordable Participation, Timely Completion, and Innovative Discovery:
Student growth and capacity: $15,969,000
This will help expand capacity in critical courses and programs, advance classroom technology, innovate course delivery, and enhance business and student services support.
Completion: $ 7,958,000
These funds will help reduce barriers to completion, provide financial aid to underserved students, and support mentoring of at-risk students. It will also help institutions utilize predictive analytics to better support student success.
Workforce: $15,848,900
Institutions intend to expand programs to meet the statewide and regional employment needs of targeted professions conveyed by industry, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and the Department of Workforce Services. Specific programs include:
- Nursing, health and wellness
- Computer science and information technology
- Engineering, science, and aviation
- Business, hospitality and tourism
Statewide priorities: $13,395,000
These include performance funding, growth in the Regents’ Scholarship, IT infrastructure requirements, and the Utah Academic Library Consortium.
