Enrollment, tuition due for increase

Both enrollment and tuition are expected to rise for fall term 2002, which ranks Portland State University as still the best value for a major state university education.

Preliminary projections show an enrollment increase of 6.6 percent by the end of fall term. This would bring total enrollment to more than 22,440.

Projections on enrollment were compiled by Kathi Ketcheson, director of PSU Institutional Research and Planning.

As of last Friday, main campus enrollment was running at 21 percent over last year at this time. Overall enrollment, which factors in self-support courses offered by extended studies, is about the same.

As the numbers even out, Ketcheson’s office officially projects the 6.6 percent rise in enrollment, but she said, “I would guess we are going to be around 10 percent again over last year overall.”

“In the mid-90s enrollment started to increase about three percent a year,” she recalled. “Then suddenly in the last couple of years, there were enormous increases.”

She saw several factors leading to the growth.

“We began recruiting actively very recently,” she said. “We really have an active freshman recruiting program.”

She gave credit for this to Agnes Hoffman, director of admissions and records. PSU also has programs with the community colleges where students can be co-enrolled and co-admitted.

The economy also can play a role in tuition levels.

“We used to say that when the economy was bad, the enrollment would go up and when the economy was good the enrollments would be flat,” Ketcheson said. “But we found out a couple of years ago the economy was still good, but enrollment started to go up anyway. It’s gone up more dramatically since there’s been a downturn.”

She saw that students are also attracted by Portland State’s community engagement.

“Students are interested in coming here because they get kind of a traditional education, plus,” she said.

Current proposals would increase undergraduate tuition by three percent and graduate tuition by five percent.

The three percent increase in instruction fees would raise undergraduate tuition for a full time Oregon resident from its present $936 a term to $964 per term. If other charges and fees remain at current levels, this would bring total charges from $1,240 to $1,268 per term for 12 to 18 credit hours.

George Pernsteiner, vice president for Finance and Administration, said the State Board of Higher Education approved the three percent tuition increase in June.

“But they said they will revisit the issue in July,” he said.

Portland State has submitted a proposal to the state board to leave the undergraduate increase at the already approved three percent, but to increase the graduate tuition by five percent. He said he believes that both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University will propose increases of more than three percent.

“We are trying to keep tuition as low as we can,” Pernsteiner said.

He also said the legislature did “a great job” in protecting higher education funding to the best of its ability in view of the projected huge shortfall in state income.

However, there are cuts to state support, which the proposed tuition increases will not cover, Pernsteiner added. The university will need to formulate some additional strategies to cover the shortfall in the near future.

The entire work of the legislative session now sits on the desk of Governor John Kitzhaber. The future financial picture will depend on how the governor responds to the legislature’s program.