Each institution has an Educationally Disadvantaged line item. When this program was initiated in the 1971 General Session, it was approved with the charge "to be used for scholarships, tutoring, counseling, and related support services for educationally disadvantaged students . . ." The intent is to benefit "disadvantaged students, including minority students." The appropriated budget for the eight USHE institutions has increased from $100,000 in 1970 to $1.9 million today (FY 2014 Actual).
During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $361,700 from all sources for Educationally Disadvantaged. This is a 2.1 percent increase from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $361,700 from the General/Education Funds, an increase of 2.1 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:
Students Served, Students Advised, Disabled Students Served
The Educationally Disadvantaged program students provides a transition to college experiences for traditionally underserved students at the lowest reasonable cost. These measures allow for the tracking of students served over time. The number of students served has gone down for the past two years because a grant was not renewed. The number of students advised has decreased due to a staff vacancy. The number of disabled students served shows an average annual increase of 19 percent since FY 2009.
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.