USU
'alumni legacy' non-resident students to get big tuition
break
By Paige Burtenshaw
May 5, 2009 | Utah State University will be offering
Alumni Legacy Nonresident Scholarships starting in fall
2008 that will cut $8,000 off some students' tuition
per year.
To qualify for the scholarship, an admitted student
must have a parent who attended USU and received an
associate degree or higher from the school.
The scholarship came into effect after the Utah Legislature
unanimously passed House Bill 364 that allowed non-resident
students of USU alumni to attend the same school as
their parents for resident tuition. This saves the student
about $4,000 per semester.
This scholarship allows students to pay resident tuition
during the entire time they attend Utah State without
having to complete residency requirements. So instead
of living in Utah for 12 months, getting a Utah driver's
license, and not being claimed as a dependent by parents,
a student can provide their parent's graduation information
and receive residency about two weeks after they fill
out the application.
A current non-resident legacy student, Andra Holdaway
said, "This way, I don't have to go through the hassle
of getting residency. I can get resident tuition and
still leave Utah for the summer."
Michael Kennedy, Special Assistant to the USU President,
said that this scholarship will help USU "compete for
students who never would have considered coming here."
He says it helps USU become more competitive with schools
like BYU who subsidize tuition.
Kennedy says some people will look at this scholarship
and think that it will end up losing the school money.
He says USU may "make less money up front, but will
end up getting more students."
By offering resident tuition to legacy students, more
students will enroll at Utah State which will increase
revenue in areas like tuition, fees and on-campus housing.
Primarily non-residents stay in on-campus housing, so
by increasing the number of non-resident students, Kennedy
says it will help us to fill up the spaces in our resident
halls and bring more revenue to USU.
Kennedy says this scholarship is a good way to "reconnect
with Utah State Alumni." If we can cut $8,000 off
of their children's tuition costs, it will be more likely
that they will donate to our school and give more support
once they have a student attending.
Although Utah State is participating in HB 364, not
all Utah schools are. This bill is optional for Utah
schools and it is up to the President of the university
to decide whether or not to take part.
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