In March, House Bill 265 emerged from the Utah State Legislature and received a signature of approval from Gov. Spencer Cox.
As a result, a combined $60 million from base budgets of higher education institutions has been reallocated to the Utah Board of Higher Education. In order to receive some of this funding again, Salt Lake Community College and other degree-granting institutions must identify degrees, programs, courses and departments for reinvestment, reduction or elimination.
HB 265 requires three things:
- Each college must develop a reinvestment plan to move money from programs that don’t produce enough graduates or high earnings after college to other programs that do.
- Limits the number of credit hours between general education and degree-specific requirements.
- Programs that don’t produce enough graduates or high earnings will be phased out over the next three years.
House Minority Leader Rep. Angela Romero worried that important programs may be overlooked in favor of high-demand areas.
“My concern is there might be a program that is needed. There are a lot of students taking a class and it helps them get a better worldview,” said Romero, a Democrat. “Sometimes there’s [a class] that people take that may not equal a degree, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t help somebody be a more well-rounded person. We still need people to understand different living experiences and to be a well-rounded person.”
Students, faculty and staff await SLCC’s reinvestment plan
SLCC’s reinvestment plan, which must reallocate $5.2 million, has yet to be announced. In the employee forum on March 25, President Greg Peterson stated that the college would stay focused on its mission while charting and organizing SLCC to navigate future change.
The president reminded employees that change can’t be avoided, but the administration “can make sure they are consistent and fair.” He also said the college has been “very intentional about following a methodical and transparent process to evaluate our instructional programs to determine the most appropriate programs to fund and where to cut costs, which may entail cutting a minimal number of positions and possibly some programs.”
Utah House Rep. Karen Peterson, a Republican, worked with Utah college presidents to ensure the bill was a collective effort.
“I feel confident that our universities are doing a really good job. We gave them a lot of flexibility because every college campus has a different mission, and they serve a different student population. We want to make sure they can still meet their mission,” said Rep. Peterson.
Origins of HB 265
The bill stemmed from a legislative audit released in November 2024, which stated that the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) will soon face challenges due to declining student enrollments, the expansion of private institutions and relaxed degree standards by employers.
State Sen. Ann Millner, formerly the 11th president of Weber State University, said the need to create HB 265 arose after assessment of the current allocation of resources.
“It was time to step back and say, ‘Where are we using our resources now? Where do we have students in these programs? Where do we have people completing programs? And are our resources aligned with our high programmatic needs?’ Both from a workforce standpoint but from a student demand standpoint as well,” said Millner, a Republican.
State Sen. Kathleen Riebe believes that while the audit highlighted important issues that needed to be discussed, creating legislation to regulate every aspect of institutional operation may be an overreach of the state government’s authority.
“I think that the audit illustrates what’s happening [and] is something that’s important and we should be talking about it. But when you create legislation, you’re creating a law that binds people to do a certain thing,” said Riebe, a Democrat. “I think that the state is overreaching their authority to micromanage all of our institutions: education, healthcare, Utah transportation. We have to start giving our local institutions more leeway to fail and succeed and let people decide whether they want to be a part of it or not.”
Enthusiasm and concerns with HB 265
While there will be a reduction in faculty and staff positions, Utah Tech University is seeing this bill as an opportunity to create some changes.
“Utah Tech is adding graduate programs around mental health, which is a huge need in our state. They’ve had a lot of film industry move to southern Utah. They’re going to partner with that studio and increase some of their film opportunities down there as they see that industry expanding [in] their state,” said Rep. Peterson.
Millner is confident that students will find school choices in the state of Utah.
“Remember, we’re not cutting programs that have hundreds of students in them. We’re cutting programs that have a few students in them. If we could expand some of those programs, we’d be able to meet more of our students’ needs and interests, and that’s where the reinvestment comes in,” said Millner.
Riebe understands the need for efficiency in government, and prefers that institutions be allowed the authority to reassess and make their own determinations.
“I think that efficiency in government should be something that we all look at. To ask an institution to change their practices to meet our demands as legislators is not how government should be run,” said Riebe.
Riebe also believes that higher education institutions play a valuable role in helping individuals pursue their desired paths and develop skills in unconventional majors.
“We should be reacting to what people are asking us to do, not telling people what to do; so if you wanted to pursue something that wasn’t popular but that was something that you believed in, I think that those anomaly majors that they created were beneficial,” said Riebe.
Concerns regarding number of credit hours between general education and degree-specific requirements
SLCC students seeking an associate degree are required to complete roughly 34 credits of general education courses with some exceptions in certain majors. This is approximately 55% of the degree credit required.
Credit hours for four-year degrees climbed as high as 138 in 1992. HB 265 says a four-year institution cannot exceed a 120-hour degree requirement without authorization from the Board.
Aside from certain programs requiring more credit hours, Romero and Riebe both said they are concerned about preparedness in the workforce.
A Gallup poll of college graduates, hiring managers and parents of students think that college is important both for preparing oneself for a job (advance and earnings) and to thrive in their overall lives.
“I really feel like if we want to have a workforce that is prepared, we have to be very careful on how much we take off of the table for them,” said Romero.
Riebe told her colleagues in the Senate Education Committee that education goes beyond facts and memorization.
“We all argued in the education committee that education is not just about learning facts and figures — it’s actually about critical thinking and being exposed to new ideas,” said Riebe.
Reinvestment plan timeline
Higher education institutions must submit their plan to USHE by May 2025. USHE will then report the institutions’ plans to the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee by August 2025.
Romero expressed concerns about potential restrictions on academic freedoms.
“I have concerns that we’re going to be taking people’s academic freedoms away, but more importantly, we’re taking those decisions away from university presidents and their staff,” said Romero. “How will that impact the learning opportunities [for] people that come here to get a higher education? Or will we be able to attract people to want to teach here? Those are questions that we don’t have an answer for, because we don’t know. We’ll have to see.”
Schools who have already announced their changes
Utah State University is combining five colleges into two, and Interim President Alan Smith has said job cuts are certain. Weber State will have administrative reductions, course eliminations and majors and department consolidations. Utah Tech is merging some of their colleges, cutting low-performing programs and eliminating some administrative positions.
Rep. Peterson, a graduate of the humanities program at USU within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, which is one of the colleges undergoing a merger with two other colleges, recognizes that change is not easy.
“I understand that when we start saying we’re going to eliminate some programs, that means positions, that means jobs, and I totally understand that’s difficult for the people involved and for students,” said Rep. Peterson. “I definitely recognize the challenge that is on a campus to make sure that you are meeting the students’ needs but also faculty and staff that have been part of your campus community. As you make changes, that’s hard.”
