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he year is 1850 and since their first arrival in 1847 the early Utah pioneers have faced down a near famine, harvests |
decimated by crickets, political upheaval, and countless privations. Survival itself in the forbidding Outback of the American West is by no means certain. So what do these hardy pioneers do? They organized a Board of Regents and founded a University, the first west of the Missouri River. The school opened November 11, 1850. Initial courses were in the sciences and by 1851, the University was offering coursework leading to teaching certificates. A full quarter’s tuition was $8!
Utah’s earliest pioneer leaders talked about the “glory… of intelligence.” But they did more than pay lip service. They established centers of higher learning almost reflexively. Even now the quest for higher education seems almost baked into Utah’s young people.
Today, Utah’s young and educated workforce is a major attraction for companies thinking of relocating or expanding to the state. In fact, fourteen of Utah’s high schools were included on the list the “1,300 best high schools in America” compiled by Newsweek and the Washington Post, which is measured by comparing the number of students at a school that take Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge tests versus the entire student body.
Only Utah and six other states earned “A’s” for college preparation according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education’s “Measuring Up 2006” report on higher education. That same report highlighted Utah’s colleges and universities as the most affordable in the nation. Figures from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)—a branch of the U.S. Department of Education—show Utah with an 82.0 percent high school graduation rate in 2004, eleven points above the national average and seventh best in the nation. Of the adult population above age 18, 91.2 percent of Utahns have completed high school, the fifth highest in the nation. Plus, 27 percent of Utahns have four-year college degrees and higher. Utah is expected to have the nation’s fastest growing college enrollment through at least the end of 2007.
Utah’s average class size is large when compared to other states, yet excellent results are achieved. In fact, Utah ranks 9th in the states for public school spending per $1,000 of personal income. Utah also ranks 9th among the states for per capita direct general expenditures of state and local governments for education.
More than twenty years ago, Utah implemented the Core Curriculum Program, which played a major role in improving the state’s education system and in raising student ACT scores. Since 1994, ACT college entrance examination scores in Utah have risen twice as fast as the national average. Sixty-eight percent of Utah’s high school graduates took the ACT in 2005, well above the national average. Utah public school students have the 10th highest average Advanced Placement (AP) exam scores in the nation.
Utah has 40 public school districts, 138 private/parochial schools, 53 charter schools, ten public four-year degree-granting universities and colleges, and four private higher learning institutions. Of these, three are major research universities with one medical school and two law schools between them.
The Manhattan Institute released a study on graduation rates in the 100 largest school districts in the country and four of Utah’s school districts where found in the top 15:
- Davis School District rates No. 1 with an 89 percent graduation rate;
- Jordan School District at No. 5 with an 82 percent graduation rate;
- Alpine School District at No. 8 with an 81 percent graduation rate; and
- Granite School District at No. 12 with a 78 percent graduation rate.
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Challenger School students |
Utah has a wide variety of independent schools for primary and secondary students. The first Catholic school in the Salt Lake Valley opened in 1875. Today, there are 17 Catholic schools throughout Utah with 3 major Catholic high schools in the Salt Lake Valley. Independent schools like Challenger and Sylvan provide specialized education and training. In addition, parochial schools like Rowland Hall / St. Mark’s Schools in the Salt Lake City area, and American Heritage Schools in American Fork, Spanish Fork, and So. Jordan, and Montessori Schools throughout Utah provide an atmosphere designed to help develop students who will lead productive and ethical lives. Secular schools for students with special needs include Odyssey House, Provo Canyon Schools, and Heritage Schools.
Four-Year Colleges
Founded in 1850, the University of Utah is the State’s flagship university and located in Salt Lake City’s urban center. It is a major academic, research and health science university. With enrollment at more than 28,600, the ‘U’ has many specialties ranging from genetics and chemistry to classic ballet, finance, and environmental law. In recent years, the U has attracted an average of $300 million per year in external funding for research and related activities. www.utah.edu
Utah State University… the State’s sole land-grant institution… is nationally and internationally recognized for research leadership in land, water, space, and life sciences. Tucked away in Logan in the charming Cache Valley, the university has 850 faculty who provide education for more than 23,000 undergraduate and graduate students, including 7,000 in its continuing education sites located throughout the State. Utah State attracted more than $186 million in research revenue in 2006. www.usu.edu
Brigham Young University, the nation’s largest church-sponsored private university, is located in Provo, along the Southern edge of the Wasatch Mountains. BYU was founded in 1875 and has grown to an enrollment of 29,500. The Provo institution is home to the J. Reuben Clark Law School and Marriott School of Management, both ranked in the top 50 in the 2007 issue of U.S. News & World Report “Best Graduate Schools.” BYU’s student body is known for its cultural experience and unique standards. More than three-fourths of BYU’s students speak a language other than their native tongue and nearly half have lived outside of the United States. www.byu.edu
Utah Valley State College soon to be Utah Valley University is located north of BYU in Orem. When the transition is completed in July 2008, Utah Valley University will be comprised of |
two interdependent divisions. The lower division embraces and preserves the philosophy and mission of a comprehensive community college, while the upper division consists of programs leading to baccalaureate degrees traditional to a state university. www.uvsc.edu
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Westminster College |
Westminster College (enrollment 2,500) is Utah’s only private, comprehensive liberal arts college. The college is nestled on 27 acres in Salt Lake’s inviting Sugarhouse neighborhood. With its student to teacher ratio of just 11:1 Westminster prepares its students for success through a strong foundation of liberal education combined with cutting-edge programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. For 10 years U.S. News & World Report has ranked Westminster as a top tier institution as well as a top three educational value in the region. www.westminstercollege.edu
To the north of Salt Lake City in Ogden and Davis County is the multi-campus Weber State University. WSU offers 215 certificate and degree programs in arts and humanities, science, applied science and technology, business and economics, education, social and behavioral sciences and the health professions—the largest and most comprehensive undergraduate offering in the state. Master’s degrees are offered in accounting, business administration, criminal justice and education. WSU is also an aggressive leader in area online instruction, offering eight online degree/certificate programs and serving students across the globe. www.weber.edu
Founded 110 years ago as a teacher’s college, Southern Utah University in scenic Cedar City is now a comprehensive, regional university offering graduate, baccalaureate, associate and technical programs. Drawn by its value pricing, academic excellence, easy access to professors, and unbeatable Western lifestyle, SUU has added 1,000 new students in the last three years. SUU has also found praise among the national rankings earning a top ten ranking in Consumers Digest’s annual list of the Top 50 Best Values for Public Colleges and Universities. Similar notice has come from Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report.
Dixie State College of Utah, in burgeoning St. George, offers baccalaureate and associates degrees in the warmth of Utah’s “Dixie.” Bachelors degrees are offered in nine areas including business administration, computer information technology, elementary education, nursing and communications & news media. Dixie carries fully transferable Associate and Bachelor degree programs. With a student to instructor ratio of 19:1 and a professorship concentrated on teaching rather than publishing or research, Dixie promises “the best education under the sun.” www.dixie.edu
Community Colleges and Technical Schools
Famed management consultant Peter Drucker wrote that the educational institutions most likely to keep America at the forefront in a global economy are junior colleges and technical schools because of their capacity to efficiently train technologists. Utah has some of the best.
Salt Lake Community College (enrollment 24,000) serves some 60,000 students each year at 14 sites spread across the Salt Lake Valley offering credit and non-credit courses and workshops, making it the largest institution of higher education in Utah. SLCC is a vibrant, progressive college offering programs in a wide variety of academic and professional fields. Programs available range from Business, Trades and Technology, Service Occupations, Health Sciences, Humanities, and Physical and Biological Sciences. Many programs can transfer to four-year universities. SLCC has been named one of the top 100, two-year colleges in various fields of study. www.slcc.edu
Spread across nine campuses throughout the State, the Utah College of Applied Technology is unique among Utah’s colleges: its sole mission is to provide job training tailored specifically for business and industry workforce needs. Small training classes are the norm with lots of hands-on experience and individualized instruction. UCAT currently offers three Associate of Applied Technology (AAT) degrees with more under development, and hundreds of options for short-term and long-term certificate training, within a college environment. For businesses, UCAT offers “Custom Fit,” designed to provide training services, funding, and support for Utah businesses. www.ucats.org
Snow College a transfer institution in rural Ephraim prides itself on offering the State’s best reputation for having credits accepted at four-year schools. Snow’s academic focus is on liberal arts and sciences, and professional/technical education and its trophy case for both athletics and music is prodigious, especially considering the student body numbers just 3,000. www.snow.edu
College of Eastern Utah in Price offers more than 400 courses in 60 areas of study. Given its location in the heart of Utah’s dinosaur country CEU has special emphasis in archeology, paleontology and geology. The college offers certificates, associates degrees,
and transferable credits to four-year schools. www.ceu.edu
LDS Business College, on a new campus in Salt Lake City’s central business district offers associates degrees, transfer degrees and one-year certificate programs in accounting, business skills, information technology, interior design, medical careers, and office technology.
There are numerous other full and part-time higher education institutions available in Salt Lake, some of which are familiar across the country, including Columbia College, Devry University, Everest College, ITT Technical Institute, Stevens-Henager College, University of Phoenix, and Webster University. Others are just available in Utah, such as Eagle Gate College and Neumont University (which offers only computer science degrees and just added a second campus in Dulles, Virginia). Perhaps the most unique is Western Governors University, an accredited online university based in Salt Lake City. WGU utilizes technology to provide distance-delivered, competency-based degree programs in three areas: information technology, business, education and health.
For more information about the state’s institutions of higher education, contact the Utah System of Higher Education at 801.321.7100, or at www.utahsbr.edu. For information about the state’s K-12 public schools, contact the State Office of Education at 801.538.7500. www.usoe.k12.ut.us |
