Members of the ASUO Executive realize cuts in higher education funding are imminent this legislative session, but they believe state politicians can help prevent double-digit tuition increases for University students.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber’s recently proposed state budget for the next two years includes $94.3 million less for the Oregon University System, and although budget details will be fiercely debated in Salem in the coming months, University President Dave Frohnmayer told the University Senate Wednesday that tuition increases are coming.
“What’s being proposed [by Kitzhaber] is a step back, maybe two steps back,” said Brian Tanner, ASUO state affairs coordinator.
But Tanner, who through his ASUO position will work closely with members of the Legislature, OUS and the Oregon Student Association, said the big question now is how high the increase will go in the next two years.
He said OUS proposed to Kitzhaber a tuition increase between 5 and 8 percent split between the two years, and Kitzhaber’s plan sets an increase at 8 percent.”But there is talk that it could go higher than 8 percent,” Tanner said.
ASUO President Jay Breslow said he wants to halt the tuition increase at a biennium 5 percent, or 2.5 percent each year for the next two years.
To do that, Breslow said, the ASUO is organizing a letter-writing campaign to a group of nine local politicians and two committee chairs, trying to gain support from the legislators who will vote on the specific parts of Kitzhaber’s budget.
“It’s a mix of damage control and proactive work,” Breslow said.
Tanner said the ASUO hasn’t organized other campaigns, but he wants to create some that will address the specific effects on students and faculty.
“More than the numbers, students want to know what it means for them,” Tanner said.
Many, including Tanner and Breslow, worry that higher tuition will eventually decrease enrollment and hurt campus programs.
“It’s disappointing. The current quality of programs is going to be hurt,” Tanner said. “Innovative new programs are going to be hurt.”
On Wednesday, Frohnmayer said it’s still too soon to know what the final budget will mean for students. He said he did not want to “sound alarmist,” and an end to the recent tuition freeze was expected.
Tanner agreed that tuition was going to rise eventually, but said the situation is grim regardless of the final numbers.
“There’s about an $800 million shortfall in a state budget of about $10 billion,” he said.
Breslow said that while the University’s needs will remain crucial, the ASUO plans to fight for the proposed increased funding for community colleges.
The Legislature will approve the final state budget sometime in the spring. But Tanner said as specific parts are passed, it will become clear who in government will fight for higher education and exactly how much money will be available.
They might vote first on K-12 schools, which receive more than half the state budget. If that decision becomes bogged down in partisan politics, Tanner said, other budget debates may become heavily political as well.
“If it takes three months [to decide K-12], we’re in trouble,” he said.