Students statewide will fork out more tuition money in the 2003-04 school year after the State Board of Higher Education implemented tuition and fee increases and changes to tuition plateaus that take effect January 2004.
University resident undergraduates will now pay an extra $20 charge per credit for their 14th through 16th credit hour. Non-resident students will pay a $60 charge per credit in the same credit range. In the new system, a resident undergraduate taking 15 credit hours per term will pay about $5,039 a year in
tuition and fees, a 3.8 percent increase from 2002-2003.
Tuition changes were approved at the education board’s July 18 meeting. After the decision, board President Jim Lussier said the changes were fiscally prudent and would help stall future tuition hikes that would be needed to compensate for lost revenue. Throughout the state, tuition increases averaged 7.6 percent, with Eastern Oregon University showing the largest increase, at 14.1 percent.
There was much outcry before the meeting as student leaders across the state argued that the hikes would not only hurt low-income students, but that schools were pushing for them at a time when many students were away. The Oregon University System originally wanted the changes implemented this fall.
“Our main concern was that students were not informed,” ASUO Legislative Associate Gabe Kjos said. “We were shocked that they would perform such an action when students had no voice.”
Kjos said the education board’s decision to have changes implemented in winter term was a victory for students. He added that it would give ASUO time to educate students about how the changes will impact them.
But the decision to delay the increases until January 2004 puts an even greater strain on state schools.
The University may face financial shortages, administrators said, and some classes may be cut for winter and spring terms to help balance the budget.
Moreover, University Provost and Vice President John Moseley said the University’s projected state allocation is about $4 million lessthan was expected for this biennium. He said administrators are stillreviewing the budget and it is tooearly to determine what the finalimpact will be.
“We’re going to make every effort to have the number of classes we had planned for,” Moseley said.
Oregon Students Association Executive Director John Wykoff said the state system has put students in a precarious situation because, on average, resident students are now paying for about 62 percent of their tuition.
“That’s the worst imbalance of student-state participation we’ve ever had,” he said. It is a “sad and sorry state of affairs” that the state no longer considers education a high priority, he added.
While the University introduced the new charges, it will still maintain its tuition plateau, which allows students to pay the same amount for a certain credit range. However, Portland State University and EOU will completely eliminate their plateaus in January. PSU and EOU administrators said plateaus are unfair to part-time students who have to pay more to subsidize credits for full-time students.
Moseley said that when taking into consideration the University’s cost per credit, 14 to 16 credits are actually offered at a discount, giving students the incentive to register for more credits. Discounted credits in the morning are also part of the incentive to let students benefit financially in their pursuit of education; the University will offer a 15-percent discount for classes taken before 9 a.m.
About 25 percent of undergraduate credit hours will be offered at times when students can take advantage of the discounted tuition rate. Moseley told the Emerald in July that only students who take all their courses between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. will pay the maximum tuition.
Despite these efforts, some still believe higher education is becoming less feasible in Oregon.
“Students are paying more for less,” Kjos said. Under the new system, higher costs per credit will restrict the number of classes low-income students can take, Kjos said. Furthermore, if a student chooses to take fewer than 14 credits to avoid the additional charges, it will take the student longer to graduate, he added.
University junior Christina Irvin said current economic conditions may make it harder for students to make the additional money to finance any tuition and fee increases. Even those with financial aid will still suffer from tuition increases in the long run, she added.
“The more we borrow now, the more we have to pay later,” Irvin said. “In the short term and in the long term, it’s going to affect us.”
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