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What money?
IHC donates $50,000 for SUU nursing,
but Weber State has control of the cash
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Melanie Marshall, a junior nursing major from
Cedar City, works with Kyle Elison of Cedar City.
The WSU Nursing Program at SUU received $50,000
from IHC but is unsure how much SUU will see or
how it will be used.
KATIE JOSLIN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
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By JESSICA CARTER
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
Intermountain Health Care donated $50,000 to SUU’s
Nursing Program, but because the program is cooperative
through Weber State University, the donation will be controlled
Weber’s nursing administrators.
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Donna Lister, assistant professor of nursing,
said Weber will have full control over the money coming
to SUU because Weber administers the program
“I can’t tell you exactly how (the donation)
can be used because it is through Weber,” Lister said.Lister
said SUU’s program has been a cooperative with Weber
State for 25 years.
Nationwide, there is a shortage of graduates and students
in medical training programs. IHC announced it would provide
“new programs and donations valued at about $2 million
to help Utah schools and prepare more nurses and other health
professionals,” officials said in a December news
release.
Lister said the Nursing Program is difficult to get into
at SUU. The program is only allowed to admit eight students
per faculty member.
“We have had twice as many qualified applicants as
we can accept on this campus,” Lister said.
She said she has been at SUU through three of these selection
cycles.
The cycles used to be every other year because of the amount
of applicants, but administrators can now admit students
to the program every year.
SUU’s funding will be used to increase faculty and
teaching hours, said Debra T. Huber, WSU Nursing Department
chair.
She and Lister work closely together to organize and plan
for SUU’s nursing program.
“That money is dedicated to increasing number of students
in program,” Huber said.
The money donated by IHC to SUU’s nursing program
will go directly to Weber and be filtered down from there,
Lister said.
Funds received from IHC will be used solely to support education
of nursing at SUU and increase the number of students in
the program, Huber said.
“It’s a one time gift,” Huber said. “(There’s)
limited scope what we can do with it.”
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Regents consider
record increases
By JAKE CORN
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
SUU isn’t alone in asking its students to shoulder more
of the cost of their education, but its proposed tuition hike
is the state’s largest.
Feeling the pinch of spiraling costs coupled with budgets slashed
nearly to the bone, Utah’s colleges and universities have
asked the Board of Regents to approve what in some cases amount
to record tuition increases for the 2003-2004 academic year.
The Regents will meet Friday to approve, reject or modify each
institution’s request, said Dave Buhler, associate commissioner
of higher education for public affairs.
The increases range from a 1.5-percent boost at College of Eastern
Utah to a whopping 19-percent hike at SUU.
Those second-tier increases will be added to a 4.5-percent first-tier
increase the Regents approved last fall.
SUU’s 23.5-percent overall hike is the largest in the
state. It means resident students will pay $222 more per semester
for tuition, or $120 more than students pay at Weber State.
If approved, Utah State University’s increase will be
5 percent for undergraduate students and 2.5 percent for graduate
students, according a press release found at utahstatetoday.usu.edu.
USU undergraduate residents will pay an extra $60 per semester,
and undergraduate non-residents will pay an additional $192
per semester. Graduate residents will pay an extra
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$36 per semester and non-residents $126 more per semester.
The university will use the money to hire more full-time faculty,
to enhance university libraries, and to improve advising, the
press release said.
Tuition funds will not be used
for athletics or faculty-salary increases.
The University of Utah, which already has the most expensive
tuition rates in the state, will adopt a Tier II increase of
6 percent, said Remi Barron, media relations specialist.
Overall, the U of U’s increases will amount to a 10.5-percent
hike, less than half of what SUU is proposing.
Chris Rowe, a Utah freshman, said fellow students are “not
happy about it, but they understand.”
Jenae Ripplinger, a sophomore at Utah Valley State College,
echoed similar feelings about tuition increases at the Orem
campus, which will amount to between 8 and 10 percent.
“Nobody likes it, but it seems to be the best way to go
about things,” Ripplinger said.
UVSC’s tuition hike will be its third significant boost
in three years.
“With the new residency requirements and the tuition increases,
I am not paying nearly what I had planned on when I decided
to attend UVSC,” Ripplinger said.
The situation is the same for Weber State University and Dixie
State College, except that Dixie students seem to support tuition
increases.
BenJoe Markland, ASDSC president, told the Associated Press
that Dixie students would accept increases if it means saving
courses that would be canceled, saving the jobs of support staff,
and boosting faculty salaries.
SUU’s proposed tuition increase has been earmarked for
improving academic advising, creating more student jobs on campus,
marketing and public relations, and faculty retention and recruitment.
The Board of Regents will announce the amount of the increases
approved at each institution after Friday’s meeting.
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