University of Oregon President Michael Schill announced the recommendation he plans to make to the UO board of trustees regarding tuition rates and mandatory student fees for the 2021 academic year. Schill made the statement in an email to UO students on Tuesday. 

Schill said that he generally supports the recommendations that the Tuition and Fee and Advisory Board made for graduate and undergraduate tuition rates and mandatory fees, according to the statement. He also said he fully endorses TFAB’s guaranteed tuition model, which would freeze tuition rates, differential tuition, administratively controlled fees and international student fees for the next incoming class. One exception, he said, is that he would lower the recommended tuition increase for recent undergraduates. 

While TFAB suggested raising tuition to 10.75 percent, Schill said he plans to recommend a 9.75 percent tuition increase for undergraduate in-state students who will start at the university next year. Those students’ tuition rate will remain at $254.62 per credit hour for five years, according to his statement.

“I made the decision to go with a lower tuition increase not because I believe TFAB’s analysis was wrong, but because it is especially important this year to keep tuition levels as affordable as possible,” Schill said in the statement. “This is as low as we could go while ensuring the new financial model would continue to work. And, while that rate might seem high relative to past tuition increases, remember that next year’s cohort of new resident students will not face another tuition increase for five years.”

Schill said he has heard students speak on the topic at an open forum, read the 108 messages that were submitted online to the feedback form and spoke with representatives from different campus stakeholder groups. 

“While I know my decision will not make everyone happy, I greatly appreciate all the thoughtful and valuable input I received from so many of you,” he said in the statement. “Your feedback and counsel truly influenced my thinking.”

Schill plans to accept TFAB’s recommendation of a 7.5 percent tuition increase for new nonresident undergraduates, he said, which would lead to a $820.23 per-credit-hour rate for the next five years. 

Schill said he accepts TFAB’s recommendation that UO freeze differential tuition rates for the Robert D. Clark Honors College and Charles H. Lundquist College of Business. He supports the 9.75 percent differential tuition rate increase for the honors college next year, which would be frozen for five years, he said, but he does not recommend an increase for the business tuition differential.
“The college [of business] proposed one,” he said, “but I believe that the relative newness of the differential for business, the relative size of the increase, and the desire for more time for consultation regarding the increase are all reasons to not forward that proposal at this time.”
The student fees that the guaranteed tuition model suggests will go toward technology, the EMU, health care center services, the Student Recreation Center and campus buildings, Schill said. 

For current resident and nonresident undergraduates, Schill plans to accept TFAB’s recommendation that UO freeze tuition increases at three percent per year for the next four years, he said.