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, $733,400 from all sources for Educationally Disadvantaged. This is a 1.2 percent increase from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $693,500 from the General/Education Funds, an increase of 1.2 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, Scholarships Awarded, Peer Advisors
The Educationally Disadvantaged program measures its performance in the following ways:
- serving students registered with the Center of Disability Services, with the goal to ensure equal access to academic services programs and lecture materials and to increase awareness of availability of services.
- supporting students with notetaking services and other technologies, such as Kurzweil software, SmartPen, and notetaking assistance.
- providing support and academic guidance on such topics as time management, academic skills, and navigating the campus.
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.