| Show n Eighty Percent Of High School Sen Seniors rs Intend To Pursue Hig atio P r fl TM r 7 n STATE BOARD OF REGENTS t UTAH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION More than high school seniors sent a message that they will be knocking at the doors of Utah colleges and universities next fall a message that higher education leaders expect to hear more and more over the next decade The seniors' seniors intentions were expressed in the form of a study released by the State Office of Education The study September Intentions of Utah High School Seniors shows eighty percent of high school seniors polled intoned intend to pursue a al l higher gher education a majority of them at Utah public colleges and universities We will do everything we can to enSure ensure efficiency at our colleges and w universities so that we can provide a high quality education to every student possible We will also appeal to the Legislature and the public to increase resources as the enrollment demands increase said Wm Rolfe Kerr Utah Commissioner of Higher Edi Education Beyond that our only answer is to too tell students they cant can't enroll Utah's Utah nine colleges and aDd universities should be able to accommodate ac most of 1 the students who for far enrollment next apply year r Kerr said Sai although Dixie College may be forced to redirect some students to other colleges in the state with lower enrollment demands term Short-term fixes such as as cutting back some programs and redirecting funds will be necessary next year to preserve student access Some enrollment caps have already been set in high demand programs particularly at University of Utah The next step if demands are greater than resources will be caps at some institutions This study verifies our warnings that Utah colleges and universities will be flooded with applicants over the next several y years rs said Commissioner Kerr We would like to preserve access and quality at our institutions but if one has hasto hasto to be given up it will be access More students are graduating from Utah high schools than last year the State Office of Education study shows and more and more of those students intend to pursue higher education In addition Commissioner Kerr said greater numbers of older adults are returning to school for retraining or additional training The average age of students at Salt Lake Community College is 29 he said These combined trends mean that by the year 2000 enrollments in Utah colleges and universities will rise from students to nearly That's a again again again gain of 40 percent in 13 short years |
