The Oregon Legislature reached a compromise Thursday that tables a proposed tuition increase and dulls program cuts for higher education.
Student leaders cheered and University officials were dismayed as legislators avoided action on a University-backed amendment to budget proposals that would have allowed individual Oregon University System schools to raise tuition rates up to 3 percent beyond normal levels.
As part of the compromise, legislators agreed to restore $5 million to the undergraduate education budget for OUS. The increase will fund exclusively “student-professor” costs including salaries and academic budgets.
“This is a solution that all of us can live with,” said Joelle Lester, executive director of the Oregon Student Association, an Oregon higher education advocacy group.
Legislators have been meeting all week in their second special session to solve to the state’s $846 million budget deficit. Although several budget proposals are being discussed, OUS is likely to face $48 million in cuts, which include almost $9 million in reductions at the University.
The budget, and its tuition amendments, is being debated in the Senate Budget and Finance Committee, and house representatives are watching the process.
University President Dave Frohnmayer said Thursday’s decision to table the budget will make his and other administrators’ jobs more frustrating. He said the amendment, if the Legislature decides to pass it later, would help the University avoid drastic program cuts.
“We’d hope for legislation that would have given us full flexibility,” Frohnmayer said. “The budget crisis means program cuts — it means enrollment caps — unless we have the authority to increase tuition.”
The amendment would have increased the amount of money OUS could receive in tuition dollars by $8.4 million, OUS director of government relations Grattan Kerans said. Under the proposal, the University could have increased tuition more than $100 per student over this year’s cost and other previously proposed hikes.
Tim Young, a student representative for the State Board of Higher Education, said the legislature attempted to balance program cuts and student access.
“It’s a pretty wise move on the Legislature’s part,” said Young. “At least it’s in line with our goals.”
He pointed out that when the budget-cutting process started in October, the State Board of Higher Education flagged in-state undergraduate education as its No. 1 goal.
Lester added that many students can’t afford the proposed tuition hike with the amendment.
“We felt that having another tuition increase would have been more than low-income students could bear,” Lester said.
Kerans said the Senate’s action Thursday was unexpected, but not out of character with a legislative body during a special session.
“Anything that happens today can unhappen tomorrow,” he said.