Early estimates show that more than 40,237 students graduated this year from Utah’s eight public colleges and universities, as well as Westminster College and BYU. And a report published in April by the Lumina Foundation showed that 47.9 percent of working Utah residents in 2014 had a college degree or certificate, above the national average of 45.3 percent.
But the $7,752 that Utah spends per college student isn’t yielding the results for which educators and policymakers are hoping.
“Even though we’re spending a little bit more, we aren’t completing at the rates the rest of the nation is,” said Shawn Teigen, research director at the Utah Foundation.
Teigen said there are “innovative” programs to help boost Utah’s completion rates, such as scholarship funding to help students falling just short of graduating at the University of Utah, and tuition waivers for low-income students at Salt Lake Community College.
View Article