... compare that to the fact that only 188K of BYU's 509K total Alumns are Utahns... just 37%. The vast majority of people who go to BYU weren't from Utah and don't go on to live in Utah... sort of hard to show up in those Trib numbers if you don't live there, eh? Personally, I'd be rocking one for sure, but I have to settle for a nice stretch Y decal and/or license frames on our vehicles. Utah claims 255K total Alumni, and if 120K live close enough to campus to let students live with them I don't think it would be a stretch to say that 75-85% of Utah grads still live in Utah (this 2022 article quotes the 120K alumni living near campus figure
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/07/19/university-utah-wants-alumni/ )

So that's the major reason, as was clearly stated as a answer in the Twitter poll. And a clear reason why BYU lags far behind even USU on this.

Some other factors:

1. UU is the largest employer in the state with over 30K staff jobs, compared to under 4K staff at BYU... All those research dollars at Utah do go to providing a lot of jobs, and the medical center is a big part of it all. My anecdotal experience of living in several college/medical towns (Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Salt Lake, Iowa City, and Provo), is that the faculty/staff are much more likely to buy School plates that your average fan. Hey, if the check comes from the school, getting a license plate isn't a bad way to give back. This seems especially common for newer transplant faculty/staff who are eager to show their fandom.

2. Marketing Campaigns. Utah has done a much better job advertising getting a school plate as a great way to give back to the school. https://ulink.utah.edu/s/1077/20/interior.aspx?sid=1077&gid=1&pgid=922
Much better than BYU's alumni site about plates with a creepy CGI video and a sample BYU plate that says "THNK U".... Seriously folks? You put a stand alone capital "U" in your example BYU plate? 🙂 Utah deserves full credit for doing a better job here. Plus, the Trib published these Plate figures and Utes are beating their chest about them... so they know it's a point of advantage in the rivalry (yes, a relatively dumb one... but it's the Trib and the Utes really pushing it as a narrative of superiority.)

3. The other two poll answers are real reasons some people claim to not get a BYU plate... 1) cheapness and 2) fear of being targeted. Maybe those are lame reasons, but they do factor in to some degree.


Details.

https://ulink.utah.edu/s/1077/20/interior.aspx?sid=1077&gid=1&pgid=933#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%20255%2C000,graduating%20about%207%2C000%20each%20year.

Academic and Administrative Staff: