Daphne Patrick and other UO students attend ASUO Lobby Day on Feb. 9 at the Oregon State Capitol, lobbying for policies brought by UO students. (Courtesy of Daphne Patrick)

On Jan. 13, the University of Oregon hosted the Student Tuition Forum and a financial briefing for all UO students on the tuition-setting process. The university was addressing a fundamental question that night: Given inflation’s impact on fixed costs and the continued low level of state appropriations to higher education, should they raise tuition for incoming students?

Universities have two main avenues for increasing budgetary income: state or federal appropriations and student tuition. These funds are used for essentials, like paying faculty, staff and graduate employee contracts. With cuts to federal scholarship programs and higher-education affordability assistance, increasing tuition at UO would boost the inaccessibility of college.

A 2023 state appropriation analysis of public universities in the Association of American Universities ranked the University of Oregon as the second-lowest receiver of state funds out of 35 universities. Oregon ranks No. 46 nationally in four-year university per-student funding, allocating $6,200 per student with the average being $10,820.

The total increase in expenses from fiscal year 2025 to fiscal year 2026 was over $28 million, and the total projected increase for fiscal year 2027 is $33.8 million. Without reason to increase state appropriations, the Tuition and Fee Advisory Board will advise UO to raise tuition to the cost differential.

Daphne Patrick, ASUO chief of staff and an ASUO representative on TFAB, expanded the role state funding has in keeping Oregon colleges affordable.

“The biggest thing about raising tuition is that TFAB has the opportunity to raise the rates differently,” Patrick said. “There is a discussion of cross-subsidization in TFAB, which in simple terms means that out-of-state students often cover the cost for in-state tuition.”

The University of Oregon currently has a 51% in-state and a 49% out-of-state student population. Since in-state students pay a lower tuition, it doesn’t usually cover the net total cost of their education. This gap is often filled by the differential from out-of-state students.

“(Tuition) increases definitely lower the accessibility for out-of-state students,” Jade Peairson, a senior at UO studying marine biology, said. “As a student from Texas, I have scholarships and I am also graduating a year early to save a year of out-of-state tuition.”

“I think there is this perception from legislators in Salem, where people see a
polished version of the university where they see our athletics capabilities, or they see our donor relations and they assume we have a good cash flow,”Patrick said. “But that’s not the case.”

Higher education is an important investment in the Oregon economy; Patrick said those who attend a well-funded university often stay in state post-graduation, and this allows the state to attract new talent to join the local workforce. The worse higher-education funding is in the state funding, the worse the job market tends to be within the host state. Although the results aren’t immediate, investing in education has long-term benefits for the state.

“State appropriations to public universities are what make a university public,” Patrick said. “It’s what makes a university able to offer courses and offer research, hire certain brilliant minds, faculty members, and it’s the fact that the funding is publicly supported, and not privately donated.”