Tuition increases for 2008-09 get Higher Ed. OK

The numbers are in for tuition costs for the 2008-09 academic year. The Board of Higher Education approved the Oregon University System’s Fee Book in a meeting held June 6 at Eastern Oregon University.

Resident undergraduates at Portland State taking 12 credit hours per term this upcoming year can expect to see an approximately 1.8 percent jump in tuition, one of the lowest net changes across the board compared to other universities in the OUS.

Oregon State undergrads, by contrast, are looking at a 3.2 percent raise in cost-per-term for 12 credit hours. However, the net increases do not cap at 12 credit hours.

PSU undergraduate students taking 15 credits per term this year will see a 5.5 percent tuition increase, up from $1,550 per term last year to $1,635 per term for 2008-09, giving students at Portland State taking a full load the largest system-wide increase in tuition costs.

Part of the reason for this jump in tuition costs is PSU’s elimination of the “resource fees” category this year. Instead, the fees will be rolled into the base cost per credit.

“The big advantage is there is no more hidden cost. It was very deceiving. Sometimes it was a fairly sizable cost,” said board member Tony C. Van Vliet. “It was really a student initiative. They felt very strongly that the fees should be rolled into the entire tuition cost, and you’d know exactly what you would be paying.”

In past years, the resource fees capped at 12 credits. The technology fee for the 2007-08 academic year, for example, capped at $87 for a student taking 12 or more credits per term.

This will not be the case this year with the fees rolling into each credit taken.

Resource fees Portland State students face are broken up into two categories, universal and programmatic. Universal fees include the technology fee and student services fee, which all students are required to pay.

Conversely, for programmatic fees, enforced through fine and performing arts or the College of Liberal Arts, only students enrolled in those programs are required to pay.

“The fees were developed at times that there were freezes on tuition but costs were still going up,” said Roy Koch, PSU provost. “They were a way of addressing those costs. There won’t be nearly as many surprises, and that’s what we hope for.”

ASPSU President Hannah Fisher, a member of the board who voted “yes” on the fee change, said the change will allow financial aid to cover fees as well as tuition, where in the past financial aid might have solely covered a student’s tuition costs.

“So there were students that would get financial aid and it would cover tuition but it would not cover, say, the $400 in fees,” Fisher said. “Our stance is that it helps access to education because financial aid is now able to cover these fees.”

With the new fee roll-in, nonresident undergraduates attending PSU will see the highest net increase within the OUS for tuition per credit among nonresidents.

Nonresident undergrads taking six credit hours per term will face a 4.6 percent net increase, while nonresident undergrads taking 12 credit hours each term can expect a 4.8 percent increase, from $4,476 per term to $4,692, according to the OUS Fee Book for 08-09.

Approved tuition increases

12 credits (resident): 1.8 percent increase12 credits (non-resident): 4.8 percent increase12 credits at OSU (resident): 3.2 percent increase15 credits (resident): 5.5 percent increase (highest in state)