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USU Presents At Higher Education Appropriations Meeting

USU President Stan Albrecht spoke at the higher education appropriations subcommittee meeting this afternoon. This marks the beginning of USU’s quest for funding at this year’s legislature.

Today’s meeting was not a request for any funding, but rather a presentation before the committee on the current university budget.

"What we've done to manage our budgets during the downturn from a few years ago; efficiencies have been created, maybe things that have been reallocated or things that have been cut," said Neil Abercrombie, director of governmental relations for USU.

With that budget management came the cutting of several programs at Utah State after the downturn. But Abercrombie says they’re not exactly asking for money to revive older programs.

"In the areas that we're looking at for new money aren't necessarily just returning back to things we've done before," he said.

In addition, Abercrombie said USU’s funding focus is on economically viable degree programs.

"A lot of what we're looking at with the state is making sure we align our programs with workforce needs, make sure that we're providing degrees in fields that have strong demand for labor for and that we're providing new pathways for students, so one of those areas is the creation of our school of veterinary medicine," he said.

Abercrombie says they are asking for about $3 million for a second phase of funding to the vet medicine program.

Next week USU make presentations for new buildings on the Brigham City and Price campuses. Abercrombie says the combined project total for both campuses comes out to about $26.5 million.