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SALT LAKE CITY — Students across the Utah System of Higher Education will have a little more cash on hand for the upcoming fall semester.
The University of Utah will provide a $150 credit to all students to reduce fees for the fall 2020 semester, a 25% reduction that the school says comes after consultation with other university administrators across the state’s public colleges and universities, the school announced Tuesday.
Utah State will also provide a $150 fee reduction for its students, while Southern Utah announced a 40% reduction in student fees which amounts to an average savings of $152.70 per student.
“We are sensitive to the fiscal challenges faced by our students at this time,” said Mark Winter, Utah's associate vice president for budget, adding the reduction comes from a variety of fee programs. “As a public institution, the university works to operate as closely to actual costs as possible, and we are committed to work diligently to keep those costs as low as possible in the interest of helping students stay in school and complete their degrees.”
In a letter to the campus, SUU President Scott L. Wyatt said the reduction in student fees is tied to a reduction in student athletic fees, though it's just one of many other ways for the university to lower costs for its students amid the pandemic. With the Big Sky’s decision to postpone fall sports in light of the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no intercollegiate varsity sports on campus in the fall of 2020.
“The university is committed to keeping the campus as safe as possible for all students, faculty, staff, and community members,” Wyatt said. “We are also committed to helping students finish their degrees during this financially difficult time. We have been very careful with our budgets and can manage this fee reduction for one semester in order to help our students and their families who are supporting them.”
Similar decisions by the Pac-12 and Mountain West have also been implemented at Utah and Utah State, respectively.
Weber State announced later Tuesday a similar reduction in student fees of $75, or approximately 15% of the usual fees for the fall semester. The university added that it would also continue to keep open student services such as the health center, disability services, campus recreation and counseling with the fee drop.
Utah Valley University announced a one-time waiver of 25% from its student fees, which help fund programs such as campus clubs, recreation and public transportation. The state's largest public university said its fees have been the lowest of a four-year college or university in the Utah system since 2015-16, and added that student fees are lower than they were in the 2014-15 academic year.
"UVU has a long-standing commitment to affordability for taxpayers and students, including carefully managing general student fees," said Wayne Vaught, UVU’s provost and vice president of academic affairs in a news release. "We provide accessible and equitable educational opportunities for every student who wants to receive a rewarding postsecondary education."
The waiver will be posted to UVU students' accounts by mid-September.
Dixie State says it will reduce fees by 27%, or roughly $113 on average for a full-time student.
“While the institution and the DSU Association are working creatively through the pandemic to provide the ‘Active learning. Active life.’ experiences that are synonymous with a Dixie education, DSU recognizes that it is not feasible to make certain services and opportunities available to students amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” a statement from the university reads.
In addition to the $150 reduction on its main campus in Logan, Utah State will also reduce student fees by $95 on its satellite campuses.
“We are all feeling the crunch of the severe budget constraints this pandemic is causing, and I want our Aggie students to know that I recognize that we are all in this together,” USU President Noelle Cockett said in a news release.
Additional fee reductions could come if another round of federal aid is approved, Cockett added.
“I know that the experiences provided by attending a research university come with higher costs, and we also know that times have been economically tough for many of our students this summer,” she said. “For this reason, I felt it was important to do something that shows we care deeply about the challenges our students face.”
Snow College and Salt Lake Community College are not planning on any additional student-fee waivers for the fall. SLCC recently deferred a 1.5% tuition increase until next spring and waived course fees for online courses conducted over the summer.
Utah public colleges also received close to $100 million in extra funding from the CARES Act allocated by the U.S. Department of Education in the spring. The amount of funding ranged from $23 million for the state’s largest public university, Utah Valley University in Orem, to $2.4 million for the smallest, Snow College in Ephraim.
The University of Utah received $18.8 million in CARES Act funding, while Utah State was allocated $17.4 million.
The state’s lone private Division I school, Brigham Young University, was also allocated just over $32 million in relief, but opted to return the funding to the Department of Education and start its own funding plan instead.
BYU has not addressed any plans to reduce student fees on campus, but the Cougars are the only college football team in the state that is still scheduled to play in the fall. BYU’s nonrevenue sports suspended fall competition with the West Coast Conference’s decision last week. The postponement affects all sports in the conference, except for non-championship events in golf and tennis.
