Keeping the Aggie Tradition....

This article made my day. Go Aggies, go Aggies, hey, hey ,hey!!

USU 'alumni legacy' non-resident students to get big tuition break
By Paige Burtenshaw May 5, 2009

Utah State University will be offering Alumni Legacy Nonresident Scholarships starting in fall 2008 that will cut $8,000 off some students' tuition per year. To qualify for the scholarship, an admitted student must have a parent who attended USU and received an associate degree or higher from the school.

The scholarship came into effect after the Utah Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 364 that allowed non-resident students of USU alumni to attend the same school as their parents for resident tuition. This saves the student about $4,000 per semester.

This scholarship allows students to pay resident tuition during the entire time they attend Utah State without having to complete residency requirements. So instead of living in Utah for 12 months, getting a Utah driver's license, and not being claimed as a dependent by parents, a student can provide their parent's graduation information and receive residency about two weeks after they fill out the application.

A current non-resident legacy student, Andra Holdaway said, "This way, I don't have to go through the hassle of getting residency. I can get resident tuition and still leave Utah for the summer."

Michael Kennedy, Special Assistant to the USU President, said that this scholarship will help USU "compete for students who never would have considered coming here." He says it helps USU become more competitive with schools like BYU who subsidize tuition.

Kennedy says some people will look at this scholarship and think that it will end up losing the school money. He says USU may "make less money up front, but will end up getting more students."

By offering resident tuition to legacy students, more students will enroll at Utah State which will increase revenue in areas like tuition, fees and on-campus housing. Primarily non-residents stay in on-campus housing, so by increasing the number of non-resident students, Kennedy says it will help us to fill up the spaces in our resident halls and bring more revenue to USU.

Kennedy says this scholarship is a good way to "reconnect with Utah State Alumni." If we can cut $8,000 off of their children's tuition costs, it will be more likely that they will donate to our school and give more support once they have a student attending. Although Utah State is participating in HB 364, not all Utah schools are. This bill is optional for Utah schools and it is up to the President of the university to decide whether or not to take part.