Amid a steep decline in funding and resources, the State Board of Higher Education approved its 2009-2010 budget allocations to public campuses over a two-day meeting on Thursday and Friday. The University of Oregon received $64 million.
Budget allocations for 2009 equal about half of what a school can expect to receive for 2009 and 2010, according to the OUS Web site, which puts the University on course to receive about $128 million for the whole biennium.
The OUS reports the University received almost $154 million in the 2007-2009 period. The allocation is a decline of nearly 20 percent.
OUS spokesperson Di Saunders said one of the board’s major concerns was equitably distributing funding among all the schools in the system, including smaller ones.
The board moved $3.4 million out of its reserve fund to several of the smaller institutions, such as Eastern Oregon University.
Overall, the approved 2009-2011 OUS operating budget is 8.9 percent lower than the previous biennium. If federal stimulus money is excluded, the budget is 17.3 percent lower.
The federal stimulus money was only included after Gov. Ted Kulongoski vetoed the original state budget proposed by the legislature, which did not allocate any stimulus funding to higher education.
Meanwhile, the OUS is projecting enrollment to increase by 2.7 percent system-wide. However, as a revenue source for universities, tuition is a limited resource. Tuition increases are capped by the OUS at an average 5 percent for smaller schools and 8 percent at larger schools.
The board also approved a request by the University regarding the planned East Campus Residence Hall Project. The University has been cleared to seek approval from the state legislature to increase the spending limit on the bonds that will be used to pay for the new 400 to 450-bed residence hall.
See Tuesday’s Emerald for more on the OUS’ budget allocation.
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OUS budget passed for next biennium
Daily Emerald
October 4, 2009
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