Utah higher education could see another state budget cut — this time, losing $94 million

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For Utah’s higher education leaders, the budget cuts on the table this legislative session feel a bit like reliving last year. And also the year before that.

During a bruising past two legislative sessions, the state’s public colleges and universities have seen their funding reduced. In 2024, that was a 1.5% cut, or $20 million, with a one-time backfill.

In 2025, it was a 10% cut based on instruction costs, which amounted to $60 million. Institutions could earn some of their money back in a reallocation process.

But the latest call to slash more money — for the third year in a row — is spurring deep frustration among school leaders.

“We’ve gone through this process already,” said Utah System of Higher Education Commissioner Geoff Landward.

The latest proposed cut would be 5% of the nearly $1.9 billion total that the state allocates for public higher education. That would mean a reduction of $94 million for Utah’s eight public colleges and universities.

It comes as the Legislature has asked every state agency to look at their budgets and detail what a 5% cut would look like. That includes everything from the state health department to transportation.

That directive came in December from the Executive Appropriations Committee, which has said the state isn’t in a recession but also doesn’t have any extra money this year; those lawmakers are looking to build up a reserve in case of a financial downturn.

K-12 education, which receives the most funding from the state, has been told it doesn’t need to account for the full 5% figure (which would amount to $295 million of the state’s $5.9 billion budget). It has instead been instructed to look for $163 million in cuts. Higher education follows with the second-highest allocation, but at this point hasn’t been given a smaller amount to model for elimination.

The Utah System of Higher Education has provided a list of ways it could comply with the mandated ask. But Landward is pleading with lawmakers to let the agency avoid another reduction, given the previous cuts and the carefully negotiated effort last year for schools to reinvest money back into degrees that the state values.

“That would undermine that whole process,” he said during a meeting Thursday of the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

Further cuts, he added, would also likely require providing less in scholarships and student services.

“We would certainly be disappointed in having to reduce any of those student support programs,” Landward said.

He was joined in support by Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, who also said higher education should be left out of the 5% cuts.

“I’m confused because we cut their budget last year and reallocated it,” she said. “Why are we causing so much trauma for our higher education institutions?”

Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden, the Senate chair of the subcommittee, acknowledged higher education “is in a more difficult place” after the cuts the past two years. At this point, though, she said all agencies need to move forward with recommendations for trims.

The state’s recommendations for cuts

Joseph Fitzgerald, a legislative finance officer, presented options to the subcommittee to consider for cuts. Those included:

• Pulling back $4 million that was allocated last year for expanding engineering and computer science degrees.

• Reducing state scholarship funds by $10 million, which the USHE would then supplement by taking matching money out of its endowment.

• Cutting tuition waivers for out-of-state students by $58.5 million.

• Asking technical colleges to increase the tuition their students pay, and then reducing what the state pays those schools by about $400,000.

• Merging the Tooele and Davis Technical Colleges and then saving $750,000 by cutting duplicative administrative positions.

• Taking back $100,000 the state had given USHE to monitor compliance with the Legislature’s anti-diversity initiative passed in 2024.

• And changing the funding model for how schools earn money for the state, which is currently based on how many Utah high school students they enroll and how many of its students complete their degrees. This would save about $16 million.

USHE’s proposed list

USHE also presented its own, separate recommendations. Those amounted to more than the $94 million figure, but Landward said the point was to provide different scenarios.

The options included:

• Reorganizing the state’s higher education office and cutting 2.5 full-time positions to save $850,000.

• Clawing back $53 million of the $60 million that was supposed to be returned to schools under the 2025 budget cut and reallocation process.

• Reducing student opportunity scholarships by 5%, for nearly $2 million eliminated.

• Reducing student supports for those who are hearing impaired, as well as library resources and technology for all students, to save $500,000.

• And cutting $500,000 in grants to schools for work-based learning opportunities through Talent Ready Utah grants.

Currently, the annual base budget bill for higher education, SB1, does not include a cut. But the budgets are not finalized and cuts could be made throughout the 45-day session that started Jan. 20.