The attainment of higher education has repeatedly been tied to an individual’s future income and to unemployment, and directly correlated to poverty and involvement in crime. A report from the National Center for Education Statistics found that “there is a strong positive relationship between education attainment and earnings,” and “generally speaking, the more education a person attains, the less likely that person is to be unemployed.”
The Department of Labor, Department of Education and other statistics institutions support these findings.
University students returning this fall are sure to feel the effects of several summer decisions regarding higher education funding, and so are those who decide not to attend college this term.
This summer’s 73rd Oregon Legislative session decided that, for the first time in two biennia, students will pay less than 10 percent a year in tuition. Making college affordable for University students remains a top priority of the governor and many state lawmakers, but the Oregon budget plainly lacked the funds. Oregon Rep. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, even went so far as to call this year’s education funding settlement the biggest disappointment of Oregon’s 73rd legislative session.
After the second-longest legislative session in Oregon history, lawmakers agreed on a 3 percent tuition increase over the next two years. Graduate students will see a 7 percent increase.
The Legislature voted to increase Education and General Program appropriations by 4 percent over the 2003-05 biennia budget, or $22 million, but that increase is still 11 percent lower than the 2001-03 biennia by $51.9 million.
“It’s not as high of an increase in tuition as the last two biennia, so it does make it a little easier for families to handle by moving closer to the median family income,” said Oregon University System Director of Communication Diane Saunders.
With the new increase, college tuition will only have risen 23 percent in six years, as opposed to 30 percent had legislators adopted the 10 percent tuition rate from the last two legislative sessions.
Luckily for University students, lawmakers added $35 million to the General Fund Budget to keep tuition at a more reasonable level. Unfortunately, the reasonable level is still nearly $62 million short of the 2001-03 biennia levels.
And, Saunders said, “we still have a long way to go before we get back to the 1999-2001 levels.”
While the latest legislative session may have kept conditions from getting significantly worse, other factors around the nation will also increase students’ costs.
Notable of this summer’s education budget factors include the 2 percent Federal interest rate increase for student loans and the continuous increases in inflation. In addition, the historical trend continues the shift of college cost away from the state government and onto students.
Tuition and income
An OUS Progress Report published in May 2005 highlights the difficulty in attaining a college education by looking at family income and tuition increases over the last 10 years. The report places Oregon among the highest of comparator states in tuition increases and among the lowest in median family income growth.
Over the 10 years up to 2004, “median family income of Oregonians increased nearly 22 percent compared with tuition and fees increases at institutions of 77 percent for public two-year, 66 percent for public four-year, and 66 percent for independent, not-for-profit four-year,” the report says.
The OUS report showed that students would be required to work 46 hours per week year-round at a minimum wage job in order to finance attendance costs at the University.
Enrollment and a shifting burden
Between 1979 to 1989, the nation saw an 18.4 percent enrollment increase for students from low-income households who represent the bottom 20 percent in income. From 1989- 99 that same income bracket saw only a 1.3 percent increased rate of enrollment. In fact, only students coming out of households in the top 20th percentile saw increased enrollment rates from 1979 to 2003, at 1.9 percent, while middle-income households saw enrollment rate declines of 3 percent.
Overall, the total enrollment is still increasing, but the rate at which students are enrolling is slowing for all classes below the top 20th percentile in income.
Adding to the not-so-positive outlook for low-income students is evidence from an OUS Executive Summary report that shows the burden of college costs being shifted to students and away from the state. While the students will pay 55 percent compared to 41 percent for the 1999-2001 biennia, the state’s burden has lightened by 16 percent since then. Oregon will cover only 35 percent of the costs of college over the next two years.
The projected enrollment for fall term 2005 at the University is expected to surpass another school record at 20,500 students.
“We’re really pleased with what we’re seeing for enrollment fall term,” University Admissions Director Martha Pitts told the Associated Press in early September.
Returning and new students might not be so pleased to come back to an increase in nearly every factor affecting college costs. Inflation is yet another one.
According to finaid.com, an online financial aid organization for students, “during any 17-year period from 1958 to 2001, the average annual tuition inflation rate was between 6 percent and 9 percent, ranging from 1.2 times general inflation to 2.1 times general inflation – An 8 percent college inflation rate means that the cost of college doubles every nine years.”
For University students; however, the six year period ending in 2007 will yield a 23 percent tuition inflation.
In February 2002, the Department of Education reported that from 1988- 98, “tuition charges in both public and private sectors rose faster than inflation.” As of July 2005, the inflation rate rose to 3.17 while averaging 3.02 for the year, the second highest year-average rate since 2000, according to inflationdata.com.

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