A proposal the Oregon University System created last fall to help spread the cost of higher education among students, universities and legislators has disappeared after the state fiscal crisis last summer threatened budget cuts around Oregon.
Students and higher education officials had high hopes for “The Deal,” which would have established an agreement between OUS and the state whereby students would pay up to 50 percent of higher education costs, and the state covering the other half of the costs. The agreement would not have set limits on tuition, however.
With OUS receiving $62.7 million less from state funds than in the previous biennium — the University alone is receiving about $14.5 million less — the system’s officials have focused less on the long term financial goals outlined in the deal and more on fiscal survival. It has already been estimated that students will pay 64 percent of the total cost of education during the 2003-05 biennium, according to the OUS Web site.
OUS Chancellor Richard Jarvis said the deal is no longer a priority and OUS is now focusing on a “survival strategy.”
“We’re doing the best we can because the state revenue picture just kept getting worse,” Jarvis said. “That led to bigger cuts and bigger tuition to fill in those cuts.”
Jarvis said OUS sought tuition increases to compensate for the lowered amount of state support and to keep up the quality of education for all Oregon students.
“We did the best we could for the most amount of students,” Jarvis said.
He said there was obviously a downside to the increase in tuition costs: less accessibility for needy students.
“We aren’t happy about that,” Jarvis said. “I’m glad that our tuition requests were supported, but I’m sorry we had to make that decision.”
Oregon Student Association Legislative Director Melissa Unger said OUS should concentrate more on accessibility and the affordability of higher education rather than just the quality of education.
“We need to focus on getting the state to be an equal partner in higher education,” Unger said. “The conversation should be about access and affordability.”
She added that OUS was also trying to gain too much control over tuition with the deal, saying OUS sought to have more say in determining tuition costs with the deal’s plan.
Currently, the state Legislature controls tuition and can set caps on rising costs.
“OSA lobbied to make sure that legislators keep control of tuition, because students can elect those representatives,” Unger said. OUS officials, on the other hand, are not elected, she said.
Former State Board of Higher Education member Tim Young worked with OUS when the deal was still seen as a possibility.
“As a student board member, I agreed with the deal because the state has such little financial stake in the university system, yet they wield so much control,” Young said.
Young, a graduate student in public affairs, said the state has been “irresponsible with the stake of young students.” He added that there needs to be more long-term cooperation between the state and universities to make higher education more available to potential students.
However, he said the lack of funding by the state for the next biennium will hurt many students.
“The State of Oregon gave up on students a long time ago,” Young said.
Now that the deal is no more, higher education in Oregon has a bumpy road ahead. Jarvis said there are a few core issues that need attention: Increasing financial aid for students, increasing faculty salaries and finding funds to enact much-needed maintenance on University buildings.
“We’re down to basic needs,” Jarvis said. “It’s easy to focus on new initiatives, but when you take cuts your core business falls under pressure.”
Jarvis said OUS is facing multi-year problems that are not going to be fixed in the next legislative session.
“Students, faculty and staff are bearing a big cost this biennium with faculty forgoing raises and students having higher tuition,” Jarvis said. “We can’t keep on going this way.”