After it increased tuition for this academic year by 2.97% and 6.91% in the spring, the University of Oregon has already formally begun the process of setting next year’s tuition levels.
On Friday, a few members of the Tuition and Fees Advisory Board met in a hard-to-find EMU conference room to discuss what the monthslong process will look like over the coming year. The meeting offered a preview of what to expect from TFAB and the tuition setting process.
How does tuition get decided?
The process formally began with Friday’s meeting of TFAB. There will be a number of other TFAB meetings between now and January or February, when TFAB will make a recommendation for new tuition rates, according to discussions at the meeting.
Last year, the process took longer as TFAB waited to find out how much the state legislature would dedicate to higher education in Oregon. But, because of the Oregon legislature’s schedule, that’s more or less already decided for the next academic year, university administrators told TFAB members.
After TFAB makes a proposal, it goes to UO President Michael Schill. Schill will hold a public forum to discuss the proposal, and then he will submit his final recommendations to the board of trustees. The board of trustees will make the final decision on tuition rates in a public meeting sometime in the spring.
There’s one more hurdle if the university’s increase to resident tuition is greater than 5% — in that case, the proposal must pass through the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, as it did last year.
What does TFAB do?
TFAB’s work begins primarily with teaching its members about how the university’s budget and finances work, as well as what the next year’s financial projections look like. TFAB meets a few times throughout fall term.
After teaching the members the process, TFAB discusses options for the coming year. The group considers a number of different factors in next year’s rates, like enrollment projections, state funding and rising costs.
The discussions come down to one question: How much of “the gap” projected between costs and revenue should be filled by raising student tuition? Anything that isn’t covered by charging students more comes from cuts to programs, new state funding or some other combination of revenues and costs.
TFAB also hosts a couple of forums throughout the process, in hopes that students attend to voice their opinions on tuition. Usually these events have food and are attended by university leadership.
“We want other people who are coming from outside the process,” said Jamie Moffitt, a co-chair of TFAB and the university’s vice president for finance and administration.
At the end of the process, TFAB puts together a long document which details all the discussions it had and recommendations it came to. Sometimes — like last year — they also put together a minority report to represent the opinions of TFAB members who might disagree with the majority’s recommendations.
Who’s part of TFAB?
All of TFAB’s meetings are open to the public, but the board is made up of about 20 members, including students, faculty and other staff. According to Friday’s meeting information, this year’s board includes:
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Douglas Imaralu, a graduate student
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Jackson Smith, an undergraduate student and the Residence Hall Association president
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Sabinna Pierre, an undergraduate student and ASUO president
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Tova Kruss, an undergraduate student
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Vanessa Robles, an undergraduate student and ASUO’s state affairs commissioner
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Andy Marcus, a professor of physical chemistry
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Hal Sadofsky, an associate professor of math and CAS divisional dean
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Robin Clement, director of the master of accounting program and member of the senate budget committee
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Randy Kamphaus, a professor of psychology and dean of the College of Education
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Janet Woodruff-Borden, vice provost and dean of the Graduate School
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Erica Daley, associate dean of finance and operations for the law school
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Doneka Scott, vice provost for undergraduate education and student success
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Kathie Stanley, chief of staff in the Division of Student Life
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Stuart Laing, director of Budget and Resource Planning
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JP Monroe, director of Institutional Research
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Jim Brooks, director of Financial Aid
The board is co-chaired by Moffitt and Kevin Marbury, vice president for student life.
The meetings for fall term will be:
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Nov. 1 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the EMU Miller room 107. Members will discuss background on the UO’s budget and state funding mechanisms.
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Nov. 15 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Johnson Hall Conference Room. Members will discuss the university’s current initiative to increase the number of enrolled students and projections of long-term finances.
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Nov. 23 from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Johnson Hall Conference room. Members will talk about what costs are projected to increase in the next school year – the main driver of increasing tuition.
The Daily Emerald will continue to report on the tuition-setting process throughout the year. Questions about tuition? Contact Senior Reporter Ryan Nguyen at [email protected] or Associate News Editor Zack Demars at [email protected].
