The University of Oregon Tuition and Fee Advisory Board held its first virtual meeting of the 2020-2021 academic year on Friday.
The Tuition and Fee Advisory Board is a group made up of UO faculty, staff and students who discuss the budgeting behind UO tuition costs. TFAB gathers recommendations on tuition costs for UO President Michael Schill to review before he meets with the board of trustees to determine a tuition setting process.
JP Monroe, a long-time TFAB member and the director of institutional research, confirms this was the first live TFAB meeting held over Zoom.
TFAB is scheduled to meet again by the end of October and two more times in November.
TFAB Co-Chair Kevin Marbury opened the meeting and initiated a time for new and current member introductions.
The board discussed the fall meeting calendar and UO historical and comparative data compared with other Pac-12 peer schools. The data shows enrollment history dating back to 1990-1991 and the increase in mandatory fees since 2007-2008. Monroe said UO is in the middle of other Pac-12 public universities for the total cost of attendance.
Jamie Moffitt, the chief financial officer for the university, briefly explained the Oregon Guarantee program and said it’s in a transitioning period at the moment.
The Oregon Guarantee program is a new initiative that will lock in tuition for four years for all first-year students.
Related:UO will lock tuition rates, what does that mean?
The data on state appropriations for UO display a decrease in funding compared to other schools like the University of Arizona, the University of Washington and the University of Florida. Moffitt said that during the last recession, UO took a “significant hit” in terms of state appropriation.
According to the state appropriations data, the university is receiving $3,101 per student and the average amount for the Association of American Universities was $9,494 during the 2018 fiscal year. UO’s resident tuition is $929 above the average AAU university for the 2020-2021 academic year.
“We lost approximately $37 million per year in operating support from the state,” Moffitt said. “We are doing everything in our power to try to convince legislators not to do that to us again.”
Moffitt said due to the condition of the economy at this time, UO needs to prepare for another state appropriations cut in the next two years.
Moffitt said in the last recession, the state cut higher education funding disproportionately, assuming that tuition revenue could make up the gap.
“That’s not a viable option at this moment, to push these costs onto the students,” she said.
Marbury said meeting updates and notes can be found on the UO tuition website. TFAB will hold another meeting this coming Friday, Oct. 30.
