PRESS RELEASE

December 12, 2001

Contact: Stephen Kroes, Executive Director
(801) 288-1838
steve@utahfoundation.org

COSTS OF HIGHER EDUCATION RISING IN UTAH BUT COMPARE WELL TO OTHER STATES

Utah Foundation has released a new research report entitled "Setting the Price of Higher Education in Utah." This report analyzes several factors and trends in higher education finance for Utah's state colleges and universities, including:

· How tuition, fees, living costs, and other expenses compare for students in Utah and other regions of the United States,
· How tuition rates have grown in comparison to inflation, Utah family incomes, and financial aid,
· Reasons why tuition has increased, including rising costs faced by the higher education system,
· State financial contributions to higher education over time, and
· Challenges and constraints faced by Utah policymakers, including a large college-age population compared to other states.

The report finds that tuition at Utah's state-run colleges and universities has risen significantly in the past two decades, outpacing growth in inflation, family income, and financial aid growth. Tuition at Utah's four-year universities grew 188% from 1983 to 2000, while inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, rose 73% during that period. Another measure of inflation, the Higher Education Price Index, which measures cost increases specific to higher education, rose 97% during that period. Tuition at Utah's two-year colleges grew slower than at the four-year schools, rising 137% over the 17 years examined. Financial aid to students kept pace with tuition increases through the 1980s, but dropped dramatically after 1992.

Costs of attending Utah's universities are low compared to schools in other regions of the United States. Among Utah's universities, only the University of Utah ($12,680 a year) exceeds the national average ($11,329) in total costs of attendance, although its tuition is lower than the national average. It is the cost of books, supplies, and other items that raise the total cost of attendance above the national average. Utah's two-year colleges cost about the same as the national average, at about $2,300 per year for tuition, books and supplies.

Although tuition has risen rapidly, so has the state's funding of higher education from tax revenues. State support has grown nearly as fast as the tuition rate, rising 165% since 1983 to a level of $425 million in 2000. These high rates of growth in both tuition and state government support are due to Utah's unique demographics, with a large and rapidly growing population of college-age individuals. In Utah, 18- to 24-year olds make up 24% of the working-age population, while nationally, this group is only 16% of the working-age population. This means Utah not only has a higher proportion of students needing education services, but also a smaller proportion of people in the full-time labor force to pay taxes to support these services.

Utah Foundation is a nonprofit, non-advocacy research organization. Our mission is to encourage informed public policy making and to serve as Utah's trusted source for independent, objective research on crucial public policy issues.