This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Gov. Gary Herbert on Wednesday signed into law a measure to restructure need-based financial aid, giving it a new name and imposing accountability requirements on college students. But it pumps no new money into one the nation's most stingy college-aid programs.
Under SB107, which Herbert signed, the Utah Centennial Opportunity Program for Education, or UCOPE, will now called the Higher Education Success Stipend Program. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, passed both houses without a single no vote.
Since 1996, UCOPE has allowed low-income students to meet financial shortfalls after they exhausted federal sources of aid, such as Pell grants, and family resources. This year, 1,750 students received $1.4 million, or an average UCOPE award of $800, according to David Buhler, associate commissioner of higher education.
That number pales in comparison with federal need-based aid reaped by Utah students, more than 90,000 of whom received $329 million in Pell grants last year, according to a report by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
To remain eligible for Utah's new success stipend, students must demonstrate "satisfactory academic progress."
The new law also bars Regents from using program money for administrative purposes and repealed a provision within UCOPE known as the Cesar Chavez Scholarship Program, which has never been funded. Buhler told a legislative panel that Regents will hold administrative costs to 3 percent.