On Tuesday, June 5, Portland State President Wim Wiewel held the final town hall meeting for the academic year, summarizing PSU’s academic and financial outlook. Wiewel presented a generally positive outlook, touching on administrative changes and other noteworthy achievements.
On Tuesday, June 5, Portland State President Wim Wiewel held the final town hall meeting for the academic year, summarizing PSU’s academic and financial outlook. Wiewel presented a generally positive outlook, touching on administrative changes and other noteworthy achievements.
Noteworthy news includes: tuition increases; faculty and administrative cuts; the Oregon Sustainability Center losing its funding; the passing of the Education Urban Renewal Area; record numbers of graduates; philanthropy exceeding expectations; increases in diversity; and an improvement in many list rankings.
Most concerning to PSU students is the 3.8 percent tuition increase for each through 2014–15, when the budget will be reassessed. Monica Rimai, vice president of Finance and Administration explained the tuition hikes: There will be 3.8 percent yearly increases for resident undergraduates; 1.1 percent for non-resident undergraduates, 0.9 percent for graduate residents; and 1 percent for graduate non-residents.
These increases are well below the 9 percent tuition increase for this academic year as a result of state cuts to higher education funding. Additionally, targeted cuts to administration and certain academic programs were made to close the budget gap: There will be 2.5 percent in cuts to administrative services and 1 percent in cuts to other targeted programs.
Rimai explained that the budget, a hot topic this year, is nearly finalized and will match the Oregon University System’s recommendations by 2014–15.
She explained that the final budget, which will be in place by July at the earliest, is still waiting on final adjustments from payroll as well as on individual departments to implement their cuts. “Any additional reductions are not necessary as long as our predictions remain true,” Rimai said.
Wiewel was hopeful that new funding opportunities would arise during the next Oregon legislative session. “Our current feeling is that in the upcoming session there will be new funding, but it will be for very targeted opportunities,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff we don’t know.”
PSU also rose in some of the national rankings, including being mentioned for the first time in the Princeton Review’s best 376 colleges. This is useful for recruiting, Wiewel said, because it increases the visibility for out-of-state students.
Wiewel closed the town hall with the unusual success story of Jacob Sherman, the featured student speaker for the upcoming graduation ceremony.
Sherman boasts an impressive resume, receiving his Master of Science in public policy as well as being the Oregon 2011 student employee of the year, a University Studies peer mentor and the driving force behind “Take Back the Tap,” which created the 20 hydration stations featured all around campus.
Sherman’s success story is so unusual, Wiewel explained, because while he was a young student in 2001, he became engaged in criminal acts related to environmentalism and spent three years in federal prison. He spearheaded many of these later activities and earned his master’s degree after being released. Wiewel congratulated the positive community involvement and determination that Sherman demonstrated since serving his sentence.
Wiewel said that Sherman’s story is a strong example of the atypical successes that can come out of PSU.
