University of Utah changes policy on tuition coverage for student employees

SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah is changing its policy on covering tuition costs for employees. 

It means that they will still cover half tuition for employees and their families, but will no longer offer the differential tuition for graduate students. Differential tuition, according to the University Of Utah’s College of Health, is a charge added to the base tuition cost to “help cover the costs of programs that are expensive to administer.”

Yvonne Bass said she took a job at the university, partly because of the half tuition. Her husband will start in a graduate program this fall. 

But now, she’s done the math on some new changes. It’s going to be much more expensive than she was expecting– about $2,500 more a semester.

“And that might not seem like a big deal, but if you add that up between, like, five to six semesters, it adds up for me,” Bass said.

The university announced the change last year that goes into effect this upcoming fall. 

However, Bass said the U did not communicate this well to employees.

“That’s where it’s tricky with this new policy. That’s where it’s sneaky I feel like,” Bass said. “They are still technically covering half tuition for grad students, for employees and their spouses and their families. They’re still covering that half tuition. And they took away that differential.”

KSL Newsradio has confirmed multiple posts on the university’s website explaining the changes. 

A University spokesperson directed us to a webpage published in August 2023.

Bass said that if it had been clear, she and her manager and other coworkers would have known more before now.

Aimee Cobabe is a reporter for KSL NewsRadio. She primarily reports on education, family and public safety. Follow her on Instagram and X.

Keep reading

• Graduates from U’s FinTech program join a popular, growing field
• Pro-Palestinian protestors gather outside University of Utah commencement, move to county jail
• New law raises Washington DC childcare cost and affects childcare staff

Follow @aims_babe