The State Board of Higher Education rolled out a new program Oct. 4 called Admit Utah, that guarantees high school graduates admission to at least one of the 16 public universities, colleges or technical colleges in the state. The concept is to help remove any barriers to students receiving a college education.

“Admit Utah marks a significant milestone in our efforts to ensure that every Utah student has access to a quality college education,” Utah Board of Higher Education member Cydni Tetro said in a statement. “This platform will provide students with even more clarity and simplicity in the college application process, empowering them to pursue their educational aspirations with confidence.”

Utah follows several other states that have instituted similar direct or guaranteed admissions to public colleges with Idaho being the first in 2015. The hope is to reach students who might not have been considering higher education.

In Davis, Morgan and Weber Counties three institutions are taking the state’s initiative even further by creating the Northern Wasatch Collegiate Coalition, comprising Weber State University, Davis Technical College and Ogden-Weber Technical College to launch a direct admissions program for 10,000 high school seniors.

“We’re working with our four school district partners and charter schools and private schools in our region,” said Weber State University president, Brad Mortensen at a kickoff celebration last week. “So what that means is in the next few weeks, 10,000 high school seniors in Weber, Davis and Morgan counties will be receiving letters of admittance to our three institutions without ever filling out an admissions application or paying an application fee.”

This means a great deal to students who may wonder if they’re college material or who are scared about filling out high school or college admissions applications, he said. “That’s no longer a barrier to them. We think this will provide great promise to the students in our region to take advantage of that guarantee that college is really available to everyone.”

“Our community is stronger with accessible, quality higher education,” said Darin Brush, Davis Technical College president. “Fortunately our region enjoys three nationally recognized higher education institutions and we’ve harnessed this advantage for collective impact in Northern Utah.”

In Utah, nearly 40% of our high school students don’t enroll in higher education within three years after graduation, he said. “We want to change that. After three years the likelihood that they ever will drops dramatically. We also want our kids who don’t think they are cut out for college to understand that we want them at our institutions and that we are committed to their success.”

“We’re also launching two additional programs to streamline the transition for students who might choose to go to one of our technical college partners first and then hope to pursue an associates or a bachelor’s degree at Weber State,” said Mortensen. “The first of those programs is called jumpstart. What that means is for students who are taking their certificate program at a technical college, they can take core general education courses through Weber State University for the same tuition that they pay at the technical college which is $95 per credit hour.”

That’s a lot less than what they would pay once they came to the university, he said. “So jumpstart will really help students who are in the technical college who know they want to go on to get an associates or bachelor's degree.”

The second program is called tech transfer, Mortensen said. “That is for students who have completed their certificate at one of our technical colleges to transfer up to 21 general education elective credits toward their associates or bachelor’s degree at Weber State.”

Again that is a huge cost savings for those students, he said. “They don’t have to pay to take those credits and elective courses over again. It also is a huge time savings as far as them being able to be quicker at progressing through their degree.”

Mortensen said between the direct admissions program, jumpstart and tech transfer, this will do tremendous things in the region. “We are being a model for the state and country that’s streamlining and improving higher education access.”

Data shows that over the next five to 10 years, there will be a big increase in the number of jobs in the workforce that require some type of post secondary certificate or degree, he said. “We know that we have to entice more of our population to come to college and get a degree in order to meet the workforce needs that we have in the state. We also know that there is no better pathway for people to improve their economic ability than through education.” λ