What state senators are saying about calls to cut higher ed budget

SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers are asking plenty of questions about how Utah will fund and prioritize higher education in the years to come.

Uncertainties aside, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams is bullish about the Beehive State's public colleges and universities. But he's quick to add that forward thinking is critical as legislators prepare for what could be a historic session for Utah's 16 institutions of higher learning.

"Higher education is the heartbeat of our economy," Adams, R-Layton, told the Deseret News, adding it's essential that the state remains on the cutting edge of emerging technologies such as AI.

"And our educational institutions can help us do that," he said.

When asked about possible cuts to Utah's public colleges and universities, Adams said "reallocation" is a more apt term.

The state, he added, is witnessing high demand for jobs in health care, nursing, defense and biotech. "That's the future of our economy — and we need to make sure that we provide the incentives and the motivation and maybe the reallocation of resources to meet those high-demand jobs."

Adams spoke of attending a recent Unified Economic Opportunity Commission meeting led by Gov. Spencer Cox and receiving a report noting the demand for high-paying custom fit engineering jobs. It's an employer need in Utah that's not being adequately filled.

"We need to embed those employers into the universities — and we need to embed the universities in with the employers," he said.

"That sort of reallocation is an opportunity for us," he said.

The Beehive State's higher education system should be designed to propel graduates into "high-paying, high-demand or high-reward" careers, he added.

'What we can do best'

Teaching a classroom of Utah students, for example, may not be classified as a high-paying job. "But that adrenaline rush you get from teaching is just second to none," said Adams, "but we need to make sure we pay them, too."

Adams' leadership counterpart on Utah's Capitol Hill — House Speaker Mike Schultz — points to inefficiencies in the state's higher education system that require remedies as lawmakers prepare for the fast-approaching 2025 legislative session.

The senate president agrees Utah's colleges and universities can do better.

"We need to reallocate and rethink about what we can do best in Utah and where the demands are," he said. "This is an opportunity to sit back, reevaluate and then try to refocus on high-demand areas with high-paying jobs that our employers are asking for."

Adams added he's hearing enthusiasm for such direction when he speaks to institution presidents.

Schultz, R-Hooper, is calling for some four-year bachelor's degrees to become three-year programs, arguing that such a shift would save Utah students and schools money while more efficiently placing, say, an engineering graduate into a high-demand job.

That's sound logic, said Adams.

"If (students) can cut down their time in college to three years, it gives them a great opportunity to go on to get a master's degree or to be able to get into the workforce," he said.

Embedding more apprentice programs into Utah's public colleges, added Adams, would also offer many students essential skills and work experience that may not be gleaned from traditional classroom courses.

So what would be the best-case scenario for Utah's higher education institutions when the highly anticipated general 2025 legislative session concludes next March?

For Adams, it would be a session of retooling — while "focusing on our strengths" and satisfying "the demand we have for critical industries in Utah."

Across the aisle: 'Reallocate' with caution

State Sen. Karen Kwan, D-Murray, sits across the political aisle from Adams.

And like the Republican leader, Kwan believes in higher education's essential role in Utah's future.

"But I'm quite cautious when I hear the word 'reallocation' because I wonder where things will be reallocated," she told the Deseret News.

Kwan said shifting more money into, say, Utah's technical colleges is a good form of reallocation. And aligning the higher education system to better position bachelor's degree graduates for high-paying jobs in high-demand industries is a logical strategy.

"But there are some college majors that don't directly translate into a specific field or career at the bachelor's level," she said.

An emeritus professor at Salt Lake Community College, Kwan points to careers such as practicing law as an attorney that require higher or terminal degrees. An undergraduate student might pursue a variety of undergraduate programs to best prepare for law school.

A psychology major, she added, may have few direct paths into the professional psychology field with only a bachelor's degree — but it is a key step toward graduate study leading to psychology careers. And many skills learned while pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology serve graduates well in many business fields.

"So we have to be careful that we don't go too far in saying that higher education is only good for a career in which you are trained," she said.

Kwan hopes her fellow lawmakers won't act too quickly to recalculate "traditional thoughts" about the value of higher education.

"We should not be throwing away our ability to educate our citizenry in all fields," she said. "I think it would be a disservice not only to Utah, but to the nation if we are only going to focus on those fields that make the most money," she said.

A three-year-degree program may be the best course for some college students. But again, Kwan calls for caution. Higher education study offers critical opportunities for a person to explore new ideas and fields, particularly for first-generation college students.

"If we're only looking at how to be more efficient money-wise, then we're not looking at the developmental value of education for a student to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their life," she said.

And what would be a best case scenario for Kwan?

"I would love to fully fund higher ed," she said. "Research is very important, as well as our technical colleges. And I'd love to see more students being supported with resources in ways that make sense for them."

Kwan added that some of the state's higher education institutions have gone beyond what HB261 — the so-called diversity, equity and inclusion bill — calls for and closed some of the student support group centers.

"I'd love to see the resources that were provided for all students, and are now gone, be offered in innovative ways," Kwan said.

Related topics