Portland State students attending school full time and taking at least 12 credits in the fall will have to pay $1,419 per term instead of the $1,308 of the previous year, an increase of 8.5 percent in tuition cost. The numbers were revealed on Friday, July 10, at the State Board of Higher Education meeting held at PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union.
For the students, educators and university staff in attendance, there was good news, bad news and a lot of emotion as they learned how the economic recession affected their institutions.
Tim Nesbitt, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, began the meeting with a piece of good news by announcing the governor’s intent to veto a bill passed in the final hours of the legislative session. A portion of House Bill 5054, according to Nesbitt, if vetoed by the governor, will restore $11.4 million in funding for the university system.
“The veto is in our collective benefit and we would like to thank the governor,” board President Paul Kelly Jr. said. “The reduction in the Oregon Opportunity Grant is also a concern for the governor.”
Kelly Jr. said that, without the veto, the average tuition increase for the “small” Oregon University System campuses would have been 6.2 percent rather than 5 percent, and 10.3 percent for the “big” OUS campuses rather than 8 percent.
“I’m incredibly happy, his support is imperative to the university system,” said Hannah Fisher, former president of ASPSU and member of the State Board of Higher Ed.
Tuition was a hot topic at the meeting after it was announced almost two weeks ago that the Oregon Legislature made a cut of $118 million from the essential operating budget of the Oregon University System for the next two years.
Taylor York, interim board chair for the Oregon Student Association, said that students and OSA expect tuition to increase to make up for the reduced funding.
“We want to do our part for the economy, but we want the increase to still be reasonable,” York said, “[the board members] have a tough choice, they’re stuck between a rock and hard place both to balance the budget and keep students in school.”
In her testimony on behalf of OSA, York called on the Higher Ed. board to work with students and allow them to be a part of the solution. Seventy students from different universities were also in attendance and stood up during the testimony to show their support, including ASPSU President Jonathan Sanford.
In a passionate testimony, PSU student Shawna Barnett, a sophomore, told the board the difficulty of being a student-parent of two children, ages 3 and 5, struggling with rising tuition cost.
“I want to be a contributing member of society and I would love the day when I can pay cash for my food,” Barnett said, crying during her speech. “I’m not asking for charity, I’m asking for an opportunity.”
Tuition for the seven universities under OUS increases, on average for all credit hours, by as little as 3.3 percent for Eastern Oregon University and as much as 8.5 percent for PSU. Compared with the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, two other “big” universities under OUS, PSU has the highest increase on average for all credit hours, with UO being the lowest at 7.5 percent.
Fisher said these numbers will be in effect until at least October, when the board will meet again and, depending on the economy at the time, reassess the tuition cost. According to the board, there will also be another state revenue forecast on Dec. 1 that will be taken into consideration when the board makes its decision.
Students are not the only ones feeling the effect of the reduced budget. At the meeting, the board thanked the presidents of the seven universities for taking the lead in fiscal leadership by taking a 4.6 percent salary reduction for the year.
“I wish it was not necessary, but unfortunately, it is,” Kelly Jr. said. “The campuses will receive less money from us, and the chancellor’s office will look different because of these cuts.” The OUS Chancellor’s Office, which carries out support services for the seven universities, also received a cut of 25 percent.
PSU Vice President Lindsay Desrochers said the university is looking to cut 68 positions as well as making salary reductions for staff and faculty.
“We are discussing the possibility of doing a salary reduction of 4.5 percent,” Desrochers said, “that remains to be seen and subject to collective bargaining with different employee groups.”
Desrochers said the university is trying to protect the academic department as much as possible by taking more cuts on the administrative side. As for students, according to Desrochers, the university plans to give back some of the money that students paid for tuition next year.
“A third of the revenue that comes in from the tuition increase will be used to provide additional grants and fee remissions for students,” Desrochers said. “It’s going to help those students who are on the margin quite a bit.”
According to Desrochers, there will be a possibility of more salary cuts and staff reductions as the year goes on, depending on the state of the economy.