February 25, 2003 Student
News
House
Committee Approves Bill to Mitigate HB 331
From the Utah Statesman
(2/24/03)
 Nonresident
students considering a Utah education shouldn't have to worry
about the burden of crushing tuition.
That's the message lawmakers hope to send with the passage
of a new substitute bill that will grant tuition waivers to
out-of-state students in an attempt to counter the negative
impact of last year's House Bill 331.
The Utah House Education Committee voted unanimously Friday
to approve a watered-down version of House Bill 75. The proposed
legislation -- sponsored by Rep. Loraine Pace, R-Logan -- is
scheduled to be heard on the House floor Wednesday.
If passed, the modified law will authorize the State Board
of Regents to grant 500 nonresident tuition scholarships to
attract new students from other states. The scholarships will
be divided among universities based on the effects of residency
changes.
The measure was originally intended to lower Utah's residency
requirement from 60 to 45 credit hours for nonresident undergraduate
students and 30 hours for graduate nonresident students. But
that effort failed in the face of financial challenges.
"The fiscal note [or cost of the rollback] was $3.5 million,"
Pace said. "There was no way we could get it through."
The new law, which takes effect in 2004, is a compromise measure
that provides a five-year transition to HB 331. However, it
is more than just a stopgap solution, lawmakers and university
officials point out.
"This bill will help us attract students from a market
we lost with HB 331," said Utah State University President
Kermit L. Hall.
Without the transition, it would take more than three in-state
students to make up the revenue loss of one out-of-state student
paying nonresident tuition, he explained.
That might spell trouble for some divisions, like the College
of Agriculture.
The college saw its out-of-state enrollment take a considerable
hit following the passage of HB 331, with many students from
Idaho and Wyoming deciding to attend universities in their own
states instead of paying top dollar to attend USU.
Idaho students, for example, were presented with the option
of remaining in their state and paying $2,700 per year in tuition
or attending USU and paying $9,300 per year for two years.
"The college is at risk [of not being able to serve in-state
students]," Pace told the committee. "It becomes difficult
to support programs, and there are already some on the cut list."
The university was a big loser in the HB 331 onslaught.
"USU lost 249 accepted out-of-state students and more
than 140 accepted out-of-state transfer students," Pace
said. "That's not all. If you have empty dormitories, you're
losing money on those auxiliary services as well, because most
in-state students are Logan residents."
The community suffers, too.
"The average out-of-state student brings $10,000 in added
value to the economy of northern Utah," Hall explained.
"Without this measure [HB 75] we will lose 24 percent of
out-of-state students next year. This is economically and fiscally
detrimental."
Additionally, HB 331 missed the mark in terms of the money
it was expected to raise.
A study published by Utah Foundation, a Salt Lake City-based
nonprofit organization, quotes a Board of Regents report in
pointing out that of the projected $5 million to be generated
by stricter residency requirements, $4.9 million failed to appear,
leading some lawmakers to question why they voted for the measure
in the first place.
"I'm sorry to say I voted for that," said Rep. Carol
Moss, D-Holladay. "It was too bad more people didn't write
us before."
Still, there is broad consensus that Utah's residency requirements
are more lenient than other states. The problem with HB 331
is that it does not provide a viable transition period.
Hall said the transition bill provides hope for the university
to recover from its out-of-state enrollment decline.
"It represents a moment of realism in Utah policy,"
he said. "The Utah Foundation report pointed out two things:
that residency requirements were lenient and that HB 331 does
not work. This bill takes care of both those problems."
Without it, using a multi-year analysis, the net tuition loss
attributable to HB 331 could be more than $3 million for the
2003 freshman class, with a similar or greater loss for the
2004 class and beyond, Hall said.
For Associated Students of USU President Celestial Bybee, passage
of the bill is a diluted, but important victory.
"It's frustrating to see it so watered down, but something
is better than nothing at all," Bybee said.
By Leon D’Souza; leon@cc.usu.edu
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