During the 2014 General Session, the Legislature passed S.B. 16, "Veterans Tuition Gap Coverage" which provides funding for eligible veterans who are Utah residents who have exhausted their post-9/11 education benefits but have not yet completed the requirements for a bachelor's degree. The grant funding can help cover tuition for the last year of undergraduate education leading up to a bachelor's degree.
During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $185,000 from all sources for Veterans Tuition Gap Program. This is a 7.5 percent reduction from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $185,000 from the General/Education Funds, a reduction of 7.5 percent from revised Fiscal Year 2015 estimates.
In addition to statewide compensation and internal service fund cost increases, the following appropriation adjustments were made during the 2015 General Session:
The Legislature provided ongoing funding in the amount of $125,000 in addition to $75,000 in one-time funds.
The State Board of Regents has implemented rules to implement the Veterans Tuition Gap Program (R611).
The Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority is absorbing the adminsitrative costs of the program, allowing all of the appropriated funds to be available to campuses. The bill allows a campus to retain up to 3 percent of their allocation for adminsitrative expenses.
COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.