Today on the USU campus there were hundreds of parents and potential new Aggies in the Taggart Student Center checking out the school and hearing presentations. I wanted to get on a megaphone and shout to them “WELCOME TO UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY! It’s the ONLY school in the state of Utah that is cutting academics and increasing funding for athletics! Send your kids here because they get into basketball games free! (Well, up to 4,005 of them will get in, anyway.)
It’s a sad day for education in Utah because as expected, the Utah State Board of Regents signed off on tuition increases for every college in the state today, a trend that we’ve seen every year for the past several years.
Although wages don’t increase to keep pace, the cost of obtaining an education increases 4-8 percent every year in Utah and in continuously justified under the shroud of “we’re still cheaper than most other places.”
As for Utah State University in particular, the PR spin is that the 5.5 percent tuition increase at the school will be the second lowest percentage increase in the state, being only higher than SLCC’s. The reality is, however, USU’s cost of attendance will increase the second most, with only the University of Utah increasing more. This, of course, is thanks to USU’s commitment to athletics at the cost of academics.
Source: Utah college tuition rising an average 7.5 percent – Salt Lake Tribune.
