Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the last legislative hurdle during the 2025 interim session.

Lawmakers granted final approval this week to plans for cutting and redirecting $60.5 million at Utah’s colleges and universities.

Members of the State Executive Appropriations Committee signed off Sept. 15 on the eight public institutions’ plans to discontinue inactive and low-enrollment courses and programs, replacing them with strategic reinvestments in technology, business and life sciences initiatives.

Along with leaders at all the state’s colleges and universities, University of Utah leaders presented their plans to reallocate nearly $20 million—one-third of the statewide total—in a strategic “reinvention” of the university. University leaders note that the changes required under the bill are not happening in isolation, but as part of a broader transformation already underway through Impact 2030.

At the legislative hearing, President Taylor Randall described leading an institution-wide change in thinking—streamlining stagnation and eliminating waste, while modernizing the university to meet students and employers where they are and preparing for the economy of the future. That includes reinvestments in artificial intelligence, robotics, nursing simulation, behavioral health and initiatives to teach federalism and civics.

“This has been a great process to help us accelerate the way we manage the university and the changes we need to make,” Randall said.

Over the three-year span of the cut and reallocation process launched by House Bill 265 (HB 265), the university projects to reallocate more than $6 million in administration costs, $5.75 million from academic colleges, $6.6 million in academic support programs and $1.2 million by ending the lease and distance learning programs at the university’s St. George Center.

Watch the presentation here.

View the slide deck here.

Academic Affairs has adopted a Mission-Aligned Planning process to integrate academic planning with the institution’s strategic mission and goals. The first initiatives include prioritizing strategic reinvestments in workforce-responsive courses and programs and addressing the hidden costs of a stacked class schedule.

Some of the savings will be achieved through an early retirement program for employees over 60 years old, shared services consolidated across academic units, trimming travel expenses and combining academic units—including economics programs in two colleges and merging the School for Cultural and Social Transformation into the College of Humanities.

At the same time, the university will discontinue just over 80 inactive courses, certificates and degree programs. The proposed program cuts include 22 in the College of Humanities, 18 in science, 10 in engineering, eight in fine arts and seven in social and behavioral science. Read the full list here.

“We have ongoing review and redesign underway of other low enrollment programs that we are continuing to evaluate, as we do every year,” said Provost Mitzi Montoya, “but we have a set that we’re looking at following the criteria set out in legislation, as well as our mission objectives.”

At a previous hearing before the State Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Aug. 19, lawmakers noted the hard work of identifying programs to be cut and streamlined, but said the state’s universities and students will be better off for the process of prioritizing and modernizing.

“As our largest institution, [the University of Utah] had the biggest challenge with the largest reallocation. With a $20 million reallocation, it’s a very significant change,” said Rep. Neil Walter, a Republican from Washington County. “It’s clear you’re thinking strategically about the future. You’re really doing your best to reinvest in future opportunities for our students and our faculty.”

Others pointed out that the cuts and reinvestments did not mirror the biggest industries in most of Utah’s counties—tourism, health care and education. Sen. Kathleen Riebe, a Democrat from Salt Lake City, noted more than 430 jobs will be cut at institutions across the state and replaced by 125 new positions.

But most lawmakers endorsed higher education alignment with new industries and technologies.

“What I’m hearing in all of this is not that a lot of programs got slashed,” said Rep. Jon Hawkins, a Republican from Pleasant Grove. “What I’m hearing is we restructured our universities and institutions to better prepare people for the job market.”

The institutional cuts now go to the full legislature for approval and continued discussion during the 2026 General Session.