Policy one-pager · Whitepaper + capstone

Funding tradeoffs matrix

Printable policy snapshot from public Utah datasets. Pair with the full capstone report or supplemental brief for charts and institution tables.

Utah figures (public data)

• Utah state higher education appropriations: $2.10B (FY 2024, 9% of state spending).
• USHE four-year: net price $10K, completion 53%, typical pay $46K, debt $9K.
• USHE community: net price $7K, completion 46%, typical pay $38K, debt $4K.
• Certificate & technical (all): net price $17K, completion 84%, typical pay $25K, debt N/A.
• USHE technical (subset): net price $3K, completion 79%, typical pay $38K, debt N/A.
• Accountability frame: pair appropriations with completion, earnings, and debt — not completion alone.
• USHE technical vs four-year tradeoff: $3K net price / 79% completion vs $46K pay at USHE four-year medians.
• 16 USHE institutions in Transparent Utah spend extract.

Whitepaper synthesis · USHE spend brief

Full briefs: Part 9

Policy figures describe historical cohorts and institution medians. They do not predict individual outcomes or establish causation between spending, concurrent enrollment, and earnings.

Part 9 capstone · Transparent Utah · state spending context

Pathways and Outcomes · Utah · 2026-06-30