How much does Utah spend on

Higher Education?

Welcome! This report provides an in-depth look at Utah's higher education expenditure, built using the gold standard of financial reporting: Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports (ACFRs) meticulously audited by the Utah Office of State Auditor . These reports provide the most accurate and trustworthy data available.

Explore this resource to uncover trends and gain a clear understanding of how public funds are invested in Utah's higher education system. We aim to foster a transparent and well-informed discussion about higher education in Utah.

Table of Contents

Contextualizing Expenditure
How was the Money Utilized?
Sources/Notes

Chapter 1: Contextualizing Higher Education Expenditures

Higher Education refers to the 18 Institutions that received State funding:

8 Traditional

  • University of Utah
  • Utah State University
  • Utah Valley University
  • Weber State University
  • Salt Lake Community College
  • Southern Utah University
  • Utah Tech University
  • Snow College

8 Technical

  • Mountainland Technical College
  • Davis Technical College
  • Ogden-Weber Technical College
  • Bridgerland Technical College
  • Dixie Technical College
  • Uintah Basin Technical College
  • Southwest Technical College
  • Tooele Technical College
2 Support

  • Utah System of Higher Education (USHE)
  • Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN)

How much money was spent on Higher Education in 2024?

In 2024, Utah's state government spent a total of $22.1 billion. Higher Education made up $2.1 billion (9.4% of total Expenditures).

This means that for every dollar spent, approximately 9 cents goes to Higher Education. The other 91% goes towards other government activities such as transportation, medicaid, and public safety.

Utah Government Expenditures

Where each represents 1% of Total Expenditure

How has Higher Education Expenditure Changed Over Time?

Higher Education Expenditure 2004-2024

Utah Higher Ed Expenditures Have Grown

A twenty year history shows that Higher Education Expenditures have trended upwards with larger rates of increase occuring in recent years.

  • Change from Last Year: Increased $355 million (20.4%) over a 1 year period (from $1.74 to $2.1 Billion).
  • Five Year Change: Increased $786 million (59.9%) over a 5 year period (from $1.3 to $2.1 Billion).
  • Ten Year Change: Increased $1.191 billion (131.02%) over a 10 year period (from $0.909 to $2.1 Billion).
  • Twenty Year Change: Increased $1.319 billion (168.89%) over a 20 year period (from $0.781 to $2.1 Billion).

Percentage of Utah's Total Expenditure

Percentage of Total Expenditure

While increased spending can be concerning, it is important to note that this growth aligns with overall trends in state Expenditure. Higher Education consistently accounts for 8-11% of the state budget, indicating the growth mirrors overall state budget increases.

  • Five Year Average: 8.6%
  • Ten Year Average: 8.9%
  • Twenty Year Average: 9.3%

How does Higher Education Expenditure Growth Compare to other Government Activities?

What is a government activity?

Imagine the State of Utah as a Big Company. Instead of selling products like a business, the State of Utah provides services and programs to its citizens. These include things like:

  • Education: Funding for public schools and universities.
  • Healthcare: Medicaid, public health programs.
  • Transportation: Building and maintaining roads and highways.
  • Public Safety: Funding police, fire departments, etc.
  • Parks and Recreation: Maintaining state parks.

We use the "Statement of Activities", which is a report card that shows how much money the state brought in (revenue) and how much it spent (expenses) on all these services, for the table below:

Activity Expenditure Highlight Table

To help understand Higher Education's growth relative to other government activities, we will use a Highlight Table to indicate High/Low Expenditure using a color gradient.

2024 Expenditure and Percent of Budget Legend:
Change in Expenditure:

The highlight table does not work well on small screens. Please turn your device sideways or use a larger screen to see the colors.

Chapter 2: How was the Money Utilized?

Monies received by each Institution

Traditional Universities (and Supporting Institutions) receive more than Technical Colleges

The top ten highest Expenditures all went to traditional institutions or support institutions.

  • Highest Traditional: The University of Utah was appropriated the most at $605M.
  • Lowest Traditional: Snow College's $47M was the smallest of traditional institutions
  • Highest Technical: Mountainland Technical College had the highest for technical colleges with $28M.
  • Lowest Technical: Tooele Technical College was appropriated the least at $8.6M.

How has each instutition changed over time?

Toggle between Institutions of Higher Education and Fiscal Years of interest to update the charts and tables.

Select Institution of Higher Education
Select Fiscal Years (2014-2024)

Budgeted Expenditure Over Time

Budget-Related Annualized FTE

Detailed Budgeted Expenditure Breakdown

Sources

Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports:

We utilizied data found in the "Statement of Activities" and the "Detail Schedule of Expenditures – Budget and Actual" financial statements.

Budget-Related Annualized Full Time Enrollment (FTE)
To find more information about higher education 'Cash and Cash Equivalents' please visit our "Higher Education Cash and Cash Equivlaents" dashboard