Officials predict more than 2,000 students will qualify for Regents and New Century scholarships this fall, costing taxpayers about $4.3 million for the 2011-12 academic year.

That’s money well spent, says Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg and other officials, who have lobbied lawmakers in recent years to ensure adequate revenue to support the promised incentives.

Participation in the Regents scholarship program has climbed steeply since its inception in 2008, while students qualifying for New Century scholarships, which requires them to earn an associate degree by high school graduation, dipped this year, thanks to tough new requirements.

The growth in the Regents program is gratifying for the lawmaker who sponsored the enabling legislation and for Rich Kendell, who first championed the idea as Sederburg’s predecessor.

“It’s doing exactly what it should, signaling to young people all over the state that taking rigorous courses means something,” Kendell said. “It not only results in a scholarship, but really prepares them for college.”

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, hopes someday the Regents scholarship will replace New Century. A recent study showed that New Century scholars often take nearly four years to graduate, suggesting the program is not accomplishing its goal of speeding students to their bachelor’s degrees.

“I like the fact that [the exemplary Regent is] tougher to get than the New Century. It is focused on gearing kids for college. This is a way to reach the kids who are in the middle,” said Hillyard.

To read the rest of this article from the Salt Lake Tribune, click here.

“Since 2008, Utah’s colleges and universities have faced yearly budget cuts now totaling roughly 14%,” said Commissioner of Higher Education William Sederburg. “For years our institutions have had to consistently do more with less, now in order to protect access and quality it is necessary that some of the costs will have to be passed along to students in the form of higher tuition.” Commissioner Sederburg notes, however, that tuition increases would have been much higher if the Legislature had approved an original 7% cut rather than the 2.5% they decided on earlier this month.

“State support for our colleges and universities has been steadily declining over recent years,” noted Board of Regents Chair David Jordan. “We need to reverse that trend so that all of our institutions remain affordable, particularly at the community college level. We can’t continue to cover increasing costs with tuition hikes.” When compared to institutions in surrounding states, on average, tuition is lower at Utah’s colleges and universities.

Tuition at USHE institutions is approved in two tiers: Tier I tuition is an increase applied equally system-wide to assist institutions in covering various needs common to all institutions. The second tier comes as a recommendation from institution presidents only after discussion with Boards of Trustees and student hearings, as a means of covering institutional priorities and initiatives. The State Board of Regents must also approve Tier II tuition.

Below is a table showing the next year’s tuition increases for the state’s eight colleges and universities (based on a full year for an undergraduate student who is a Utah resident):

Tuition increases take effect summer term, 2011.

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.

I have one word to describe many of these conversations: delusional.

It’s delusion that soothes many parents who know they haven’t saved as much as they could have saved, and/or those who cheer their children on to go to their college of choice regardless of the cost. They think if their child gets superior grades, can play an instrument exceptionally well or is a star athlete, he or she will qualify for substantial financial assistance.

Some will. Most won’t.

If you need a reality check or, most importantly, strategies to win what money is out there, I’m recommending as the Color of Money Book Club selection this month “Secrets to Winning a Scholarship” by Mark Kantrowitz. The book, available exclusively on Amazon.com, costs $9.95, and $5.95 on Kindle.

Kantrowitz is one of the leading experts on college financing and is the publisher of Fastweb.com, a free scholarship matching service, and FinAid.com, which provides some of the best financial aid information available online.

Kantrowitz starts out with some truth-telling. The fact is, very few students receive enough scholarships and grants (including state and federal need-based and non-need-based aid) to cover all college costs. Of the students enrolled full time at four-year colleges in the 2007-08 school year, only 0.3 percent (be sure you read that right: not 3 percent but 0.3 percent) received enough money to cover the full cost of attendance, according to Kantrowitz, whose statistics come from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study and analyses of various Fastweb databases.

Only about one in 10 undergraduate students in bachelor’s degree programs wins a private scholarship, on average about $2,800 a year.

To read the rest of this article from the Washington Post, click here.

“They’ve found ways to be more efficient, they used more adjuncts, they had larger class sizes, a combination of things to try to minimize the impact on the students,” said Buhler. “We’re soon running out of efficiencies we can do and still maintain quality. Some of those costs will have to be passed on to students.”

The University of Utah has already announced plans to raise tuition by 7 to 9 percent. Other schools will set their rates later this month.

Public education received an increase in funding this year, but Utah’s colleges and universities had no such luck.

“Obviously we would have liked to have seen our enrollment growth recognized as well, but we’re happy for public ed, obviously we’re big supporters of public education, but I’m sure we’ll be going after more next year,” Buhler says.

An initial proposed budget cut of 7 percent was eventually whittled down to 2 percent, but Buhler says that’s still an $18 million loss.

To read this story from KCPW, click here.

SALT LAKE CITY –   Utah Commissioner of Higher Education, Bill Sederburg, expressed appreciation to the legislature today for keeping budget cuts to colleges and universities to approximately 2%. Sederburg says, “We are disappointed the legislature didn’t follow the Governor’s lead in keeping our budget to last year’s levels. However, the budget reductions are far less than the original 7% at the start of the session, as well as far less than those discussed in other states.” Sederburg adds, “Also, the legislature was very supportive of many of our policy initiatives.”

The original 7% cut equaled about $50M, a reduction with serious consequences to all of the state’s institutions. Now, the budget reductions of 2 to 2.5% (totaling roughly $18M), coupled with enrollment increases and the need to maintain quality, will force moderate tuition increases. According to Sederburg, “My goal is to limit tuition increases to what is absolutely necessary to respond to the needs of the state and not hurt quality. We are in the process of determining our recommendation to the Board of Regents in late March.”

Throughout the session, higher education officials were appreciative of the hard work and consideration from the Legislature, especially to restore most of the money after the initial 7% cut. Commissioner William Sederburg said, “We realize that the cuts this year could have been more, however, any cuts to higher education create a significant impact and this will be our fourth year of having to do more with less.” Just last year, higher education faced a 12% cut to the base budget.

Higher education officials are appreciative of policy advances that will benefit Utah’s colleges and universities. Mission Based Funding for institutions, online concurrent enrollment courses and data integration initiatives were all successes during the session, as were the passing of Higher Education Success Stipend (SB107) and Utah Educational Savings Plan Amendments (SB145) bills. Additionally, the defeat of HB485 to eliminate tenure for professors was also a success for higher education this year.

Earlier this year, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, along with other state agencies and business leaders, began a major push to have 66% of Utah’s workforce with post-secondary training or degree by the year 2020. This 66% is what the workforce of the State of Utah will require in order to achieve economic prosperity for the future. Commissioner Sederburg notes, “While we are grateful for the funding for our state colleges and universities will receive this year, at some point very soon we need our state to invest money in higher education if we want Utah’s economy to thrive.”

About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.

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The two tax credits are:

• American Opportunity Credit: The full credit is available to individuals whose modified adjusted gross income is $80,000 or less, or $160,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return (credit is phased out for taxpayers with incomes above these levels).  These income limits are higher than under the existing Lifetime Learning Credits (see next bullet). Can only be used for the first four years of college.  Maximum annual credit of $2,500 per student. (Click for more detailed description from irs.gov)
• Lifetime Learning Credit: May be claimed for the qualified tuition and related expenses of the students in the taxpayer’s family (i.e., the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s spouse, or an eligible dependent) who are enrolled in eligible educational institutions.  Can help with graduate and professional degree courses regardless of the number of years in the program. The credit is equal to 20% of the taxpayer’s out-of-pocket expenses up to a maximum of $10,000 in expenses.  For more than one student, the maximum credit does not change. (Click for more detailed description from irs.gov)

If your income is too high and you don’t qualify for the Lifetime Learning tax credits or if your course load was too light in 2010 and you don’t qualify for the American Opportunity tax credit either, there is still an option for you to save some coin with a tax deduction.

• The Deduction for Higher Education: May be claimed for yourself, your spouse or your dependents to help subsidize post-high school education expenses paid throughout 2010.  Depending on your income, you can deduct up to $4,000 of qualified tuition and related fees. (For an in-depth description of the deduction from TurboTax®, click here.)

Before you choose to use the deduction or one of the credits, make sure you fully educate yourself about each of the options.  When they are available, credits can be valuable because they lower your federal income tax bill dollar for dollar. However, the Lifetime Learning credit has stricter income limits than the tuition deduction. Also, while the American Opportunity credit has looser income limits, other restrictions may cause you to be ineligible.

VERY IMPORTANT: The last and most important detail to keep in mind is that if you are wanting to claim the deduction and itemize your taxes, you will have to wait until at least mid-February before the IRS will have the necessary forms ready! (For additional details on this matter, read the blog “The Tax Man Cometh, But This Year He’ll Be Late” by Scott Neuman at NPR)

Feel free to leave us any questions or comments you may have using the comment box below, on Facebook and even on Twitter by tweeting with “@uheaa” in your message!

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