Author: Jon Schwarzmann

It might feel as though the budget cuts UVU suffered recently have not had much of an impact on your education, mainly because the changes have been subtle. So subtle in fact, you may not have noticed Spring classes filling up faster. According to a presentation President Holland gave to the State Board of Regents at a special meeting held on Nov. 13 there are 4,000 more registrations for Spring 2010 compared to this time last year. That’s not to say there are 4,000 more students, simply that students understand classes aren’t as easy to get into as they once were, so they register sooner. While still experiencing near record enrollment growth, the university has seen the opposite in regards to funding. Last year the legislature cut Utah’s higher education budget by 17percent, but due to the Feds they were able to only cut 9 percent. Now 9 percent or even 17 percent may not appear to be a lot, but if you break it down and line up ten classes or professors, you realize you’re going to start losing valuable resources to educate students. Prior to the cuts, Utah was spending around $8,000 per student per year, compared to the national average of $11,500. If the Utah legislature continues with their 17 percent cuts and after average growth of enrollment the state will be spending under $6,000 per student per year. That...