University of Utah students would pay an additional $12 million in tuition costs next year if the school’s maximum request for a hike is approved.
And most of that increase would go toward hiring more faculty and funding raises for professors and administrators.
“That’s our biggest expense,” said Cathy Anderson, the school’s chief financial officer, during a presentation Tuesday to the U.’s board of trustees. “When we look at our biggest resource it is staff.”
The state’s flagship university, tucked in the foothills of Salt Lake City, has 33,000 students and 23,700 employees. In the last year, the influx of new faculty members outpaced new students nearly three to one, based on institutional data.