2019 Legislative Update – Week 6
Budget Update The Legislature’s focus on tax reform continued this week until Thursday when efforts stopped and state leaders announced they will continue efforts beyond the legislative session over the coming months. On Friday, scheduled Executive Appropriations meetings to adopt a new budget were cancelled and lawmakers involved in designing the budget were reportedly expecting […]
Trends in Higher Ed: State need-based financial aid
States invest in need-based financial aid programs to promote access and success for students who might not otherwise be able to afford postsecondary education. Nationally, expenditures in state financial aid programs continue to steadily increase. The annual report of the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs, or NASSGAP, finds that the amount […]
College Access Day on the Hill: Regents, presidents, students, higher ed leaders advocate for college access
Regents, Utah college presidents, higher education leaders, institutional boards of trustees, college access advisors, and student leaders met with lawmakers on Monday to talk about the importance of making college accessible to every Utahn. The lunch, held in the Capitol rotunda, focused on two initiatives: the college access advising initiative and HB 260, Access Utah […]
Engineering and Computer Technology Initiative has produced nearly 40,000 degrees
In 2001, the Utah legislature approved a bill to establish Enhancements to the State Systems of Public and Higher Education (SB61) within the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE). The bill was created with the goal to increase the number of students graduating from engineering, computer science, and related technology programs. In order to track […]
2019 Legislative Update – Week 5
Budget Update All of the Legislature’s budget attention has been focused on a tax overhaul bill that was released this week and adopted by the House Revenue and Tax Committee on Friday. Talk of tax restructuring has pervaded this year’s legislative session as the state’s latest revenue projections show almost 10 times the amount of […]
USHE institutions provide over 74% of career and technical education in Utah
Each year, the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) produces an annual report on Career and Technical Education. Career and Technical Education (CTE) can be defined as organized educational programs offering sequences of courses directly related to preparing individuals for paid or unpaid employment in current or emerging occupations requiring other than a baccalaureate or […]
Board of Regents approves updated strategic system metrics
For the past year, the Board of Regents has been working to set metrics to measure progress towards the Board’s 2025 Strategic Plan, both for the entire system of public colleges and universities as well as for individual institutions. These metrics and goals will assist the Board in its statutory responsibilities to measure progress of […]
USHE presidents sign letter of support for HB 260: “It’s time to expand the programs already proven to work to all Utahns.”
On February 11, 2019, Utah’s public college and university presidents and the Commissioner of Higher Education signed a letter of support for Representative Derrin Owens’ HB 260 Access Utah Promise Scholarship. This legislation would create a last-dollar scholarship patterned after SLCC Promise and Dream Weber, that would pay for tuition and fees for the first two years […]
USHE’s 2019-20 operating budget request reflects strategic objectives of the Board of Regents
The Board of Regents approved budget and capital facilities requests during the September 2018 Board meeting for the 2019 Legislative Session. The top budget priority of the Regents is Statewide College Access Advisors in every Utah high school. This year, USHE’s budget request would be a 5.7% total increase in state tax fund support in […]
Board of Regents celebrates 50 years of centralized state higher education governance
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Board of Regents and the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE), ushering in an era of more streamlined, centralized higher education governance in the state. Since 1969, when the number of students attending Utah’s public colleges and universities numbered 40,000, the Board has worked […]
