By Courtney Tanner | The Salt Lake Tribune | Photo by Francisco Kjolseth

Two months.

That’s how long Utah’s public colleges and universities officially have to submit the first draft of their plans for slashing millions from their budgets.

“The timeline is frantic,” said Salt Lake Community College President Greg Peterson.

While the reductions have been talked about for months, the final details and approval of HB265 from the Utah Legislature didn’t come until the final days of the session in early March. Gov. Spencer Cox then signed the measure into law last week.

School leaders say they will have to rush to carry out the major action — and will have to circumvent some of the normal processes for feedback and approval to meet the quick deadline.

“Moving that much money that quickly can be difficult,” acknowledged Nate Talley, the deputy commissioner over higher education, last week.

The measure calls for the base budget of all eight public colleges in the state to be cut by $60.5 million. Only once that happens does it then allow schools to earn back their share back, by reallocating the funding to high-demand, high-wage programs — and away from “inefficient” majors — to be more job-focused.

Read more at sltrib.com.

This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.