What each Utah university and college is eliminating under state-imposed budget cuts

As they took turns presenting their plans to comply with state-mandated budget cuts, each of Utah’s public university and college leaders Friday made some version of the same remark: It’s been a hard process under the tightest of timelines.

“I think we’ve learned a lot through this, but it’s been difficult,” said Shane Smeed, the president of Utah Tech University.

UVU’s Vice President of Finance Jim Mortensen echoed him, calling it “challenging.” And University of Utah President Taylor Randall said it has forced the school to quickly adjust to a “moment of reinvention.”

The eight schools have had less than three months to come up with millions of dollars in cuts — the largest reduction to the Utah System of Higher Education in at least the last decade.

State lawmakers cut 10% of the instruction line item from each school’s funding, for a total of $60.5 million. Their directive: Focus on eliminating “inefficient” majors — or programs that have few graduates and lead to lower paying jobs — to come up with the money. At the University of Utah, for instance, the reduction is $19.6 million.

Schools can eventually get the money back — but only if institutions show it will be reinvested in high-wage degrees that lead to jobs the state needs.

On Friday, school leaders for the first time formally and publicly presented their plans. They will have three years to make the changes.

Overall, the plans showed 32% of the money would later be reinvested in health care, specifically, and 19% in engineering.

Here’s a breakdown of each plan, in order of the highest to lowest amount of cuts.

University of Utah

• Amount cut: $19.6 million.

• Employee reductions: Not at this time, but expected later.

• Courses eliminated: 484.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 94.

University of Utah President Randall shared fewer details than other school leaders. That’s because, he said, the U.’s plans are still in flux due to federal funding uncertainties under the current presidential administration — which has significantly cut back on research money that the U. relies on.

“We’re seeing grants move back and forth,” he said. “That affects staff and faculty decisions.”

The flagship school has settled on a first phase of cuts, but has tentative plans at the moment for years two and three which Randall called “our best guess right now.”

The U. is cutting about $2 million from administrative costs, which Randall said aligns with the Legislature’s intentions. But he didn’t specify exactly what would be slashed there.

The university will also sunset 484 courses, some of which had no students enrolled, and 94 programs; the specific majors and minors were also not listed. But the school noted the largest share of the program cuts — 27 — will be from the College of Humanities. Previously, U. Provost Mitzi Montoya said the focus was on majors that graduate fewer than 40 students.

The school is also eliminating a graduate center it had been operating in St. George.

If it earns the money back in the reallocation process, the U. wants to reinvest largely in programs in artificial intelligence, engineering, nursing, biotechnology and behavioral health.

The school also said it’s looking at bolstering its required general education courses to focus on civic discussion and debate, which has been a large push from Utah leaders.

Utah State University

• Amount cut: $12.6 million.

• Employee reductions: The equivalent of 120 full-time positions.

• Courses eliminated: Number not included in the school’s presentation.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 14.

USU in Logan was the first school to announce a voluntary retirement program. It’s unclear how many of the eliminated positions were satisfied through that, but of the positions cut, 67 were faculty, 38 were staff and 15 were administrative.

Interim President Alan L. Smith said overall the school found $3.4 million in cuts related to “administrative efficiency.”

Eliminating programs — and making what remains more efficient — amounted to $5.8 million. Most eliminated programs were bachelor’s degrees under USU’s College of Education and Human Services. A handful of similar majors were combined to be more effective, and there were also department mergers within the humanities as well as the sciences.

The decisions, Smith said, were based on programs that had low enrollment, low graduation rates and “less successful” professional outcomes. He did not provide details on what that meant, but lawmakers instructed schools to look at job wages.

Smith intends to reinvest money back into “community needs in light of our land-grant mission.” That will include the areas of: technology and careers for the future, health and wellbeing in the workforce and student access and success initiatives.

Specifically, the school wants to expand its engineering, aviation, nursing, social work and physical therapy programs. And Smith said he’d like to improve online instruction.

Utah Valley University

• Amount cut: $8.9 million.

• Employee reductions: 45 positions, 13 of which were already vacant.

• Courses eliminated: Number not included in the school’s presentation.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 68.

Mortensen, UVU’s vice president of finance, said the school with the largest enrollment in the state braced early for expected cuts by setting aside $2.7 million last year as a contingency, which “softened the blow for us.”

Notably, five staff positions were eliminated with the school’s decision to shutter its Center For Intercultural Engagement as part of the cuts, eliminating the affiliated support programs for LGBTQ students, multicultural students and women. That came under HB265, but also in response to the Utah Legislature’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in higher education.

The school also slashed some faculty positions in favor of lecturers, which Mortensen said allows UVU to offer more classes for less money.

For program cuts, Mortensen said the school looked at majors, minors and certificates that had low enrollment or that were expensive to teach. Those eliminated included a master’s degree in nursing education, a specialized business associate degree and a certificate in woodworking.

The school didn’t say how many courses it would cut, but a large portion will be reduced through streamlining classes. “We started eliminating where there was significant overlap,” Mortensen said. “We want to make sure we’re putting students in courses that land them in jobs.”

UVU is unique among the institutions in that all of cuts will be effective July 1, instead of rolling out over the three-year period. Mortensen said he didn’t want to “prolong the pain.”

The university plans to reinvest in engineering, artificial intelligence and health and wellness programs, as well as more tutoring. It also wants to start a laptop checkout program, so students who can’t afford one could borrow one to complete their coursework.

Weber State University

• Amount cut: $6.7 million.

• Employee reductions: 49 positions.

• Courses eliminated: 89.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 31.

Weber State University came up with most of its cuts through eliminating positions. That includes 11 administrative, 10 staff and 28 faculty posts, amounting to $6.2 million.

All of that came from voluntary resignations, said President Brad Mortensen, or positions that had been left vacant; there were no layoffs. A few of the administrative cuts were done by consolidating colleges to reduce the number of deans.

That included a major move to overhaul the Ogden school’s College of Education — which trains a significant portion of the state’s K-12 teachers — and fold those programs into other studies at Weber State. There had been 31 education programs at Weber State, which Mortensen said included a lot of duplication or unnecessary “hyper-specialization.” Many of those were among the cuts and consolidations.

Overall, the school eliminated 31 programs, which had 209 students across all. Most were in the humanities and liberal arts, Mortensen said. The president had been an early and strong proponent in protecting those programs for the value they provide to students and the community, but said he was left with few other choices. Most of the faculty and staff cuts were also in the arts and humanities, with seven positions reduced there.

“Certainly those areas did take more of a cut as we pulled things out at Weber State,” he said.

Faculty spoke out against those decisions during a heated town hall meeting in April, specifically pushing back against eliminating the minors for queer studies and women and gender studies.

The school will also shutter its West Center in Roy that offered some courses, test administration and a computer lab.

Moving forward, Mortensen said he will reinvest money in efforts to increase student enrollment and retention, including expanding academic advising.

Salt Lake Community College

• Amount cut: $5.2 million.

• Employee reductions: 50 positions, 15 of which were already vacant.

• Courses eliminated: 237.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 48, with 12 programs consolidated.

Salt Lake Community College’s plan stands out for cutting more from its budget than what it was required to by the Legislature. President Greg Peterson said he came up with an additional $581,620 in reductions for a total of $5.8 million in cuts.

He said the school regularly cuts programs that have low enrollment, but the process under the mandated cuts “was on steroids just because of the amount.” The school is eliminating 237 courses that it says were not directly tied to a degree.

The biggest share of the programs cuts — 18 of the 48 — were centered in the business school. Peterson said there were too many offerings there, and it was confusing students. “Really, more isn’t better,” he said.

The college also eliminated entirely its School of Arts, Communication and Media, which was its smallest. Those programs will be folded into other schools and departments.

It’s cutting or shifting some programs so they will only be taught at Salt Lake Technical College. That includes certificates for those wanting to become emergency medical technicians and firefighters, as well as programs in car repair and manufacturing technology.

SLCC is permanently closing its long-standing Community Writing Center and slashing the library and testing services at its smaller Miller Campus in Sandy.

It will eliminate 50 positions, including five administrative, mostly through layoffs and voluntary retirements.

The school plans to reinvest in film and hospitality programs; the Utah Board of Higher Education raised some questions about that, based on enrollment, but Peterson said there is a high industry demand for both. SLCC will also add 29 positions with the money it gets back.

Southern Utah University

• Amount cut: $3.2 million.

• Employee reductions: About 25 positions.

• Courses eliminated: Number not included in the school’s presentation.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 24.

Of the positions cut at SUU, 6.5 were administrative, 13.6 were faculty and 5.25 were staff. Some of that came through repositioning and retirements, and a handful were layoffs, said President Mindy Benson.

Benson said she looked first at her office. There, she chose to eliminate a vice president post and an assistant to the president for special projects. Those two spots alone amount to $302,947, she said. And the administrative cuts, overall, account for 48% of the money the Cedar City school had to come up with.

For its plan, SUU is eliminating 24 academic programs. Of the four majors and two minors among those for undergraduates, all are in the liberal arts. That includes art history, French and philosophy.

It’s also abandoning its culinary and uncrewed aviation programs. Those are already offered at nearby Southwest Technical College, and Benson said enrollment didn’t justify both schools having them.

The school hopes it can reinvest in 23 new positions, with time, if it earns its share of the cuts back. Those plans focus on expanding psychology, nursing, business and engineering programs.

It also wants to invest in expanding internship opportunities for students, Benson said.

Utah Tech University

• Amount cut: $2.6 million.

• Employee reductions: Number not included in the school’s presentation.

• Courses eliminated: Number not included in the school’s presentation.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 17.

The St. George-based school is cutting majors for students who want to become educators in Spanish and theater, as well as a theater directing emphasis. It’s also eliminating its standalone College of Arts, merging those programs into other departments at the school.

Like SLCC, the school will also end its program for those training to become EMTs, with that already offered at its partner institution, Dixie Technical College.

Utah Tech President Smeed said there had been some “small student protests” over those decisions, but he defended the moves as necessary to come up with the required money.

With employee reductions, the school is coming up with about $700,000. Utah Tech did not provide specific numbers, though, for how many people are impacted. It did note that it will cut one administrative position in athletics and another in the president’s office.

The university plans to reinvest in business, engineering, psychology and health sciences, as well as some in digital media arts with growing film industry needs in southern Utah.

Snow College

• Amount cut: $1.7 million.

• Employee reductions: 11 positions.

• Courses eliminated: Number not included in the school’s presentation.

• Majors, minors or certificates slashed: 8.

As the smallest school in the state and a community college without many specialized degrees, Snow College President Stacee McIff said coming up with the budget cuts was particularly difficult. Snow College mostly offers certificates and more general associate degrees, which means it didn’t have many programs to eliminate.

It’s discontinuing only a handful of offerings, including French, Italian and media studies. It will no longer have a student newspaper or radio station.

And the college won’t be holding annual convocation ceremonies due to decreasing attendance, McIff said. That, in particular, will save $62,000 a year.

The bulk of the money will come through having fewer faculty and staff — but none of the reductions are coming through layoffs, McIff said. There are 25 employees at the college who have opted for voluntary retirement. A few of those positions will need to be filled, but not all of them, resulting in a total of 11 eliminated positions and cost-savings by refilling at lower salary rates.

McIff said the hope is to keep Snow College “accessible, affordable and relevant.” With the reinvestment money, the school will expand its education program at the nearby Gunnison Prison. And it will add to existing programs in elementary education, biology and automation technology. The school is also creating new programs in behavioral health and rural entrepreneurship.

Snow, like most schools, got a green light from the board. The U., Utah State University and Weber State University were each granted conditional approval and asked to provide more details to the board over the next few months.

The schools will next seek final approval from the Legislature in August and September.