George Pernsteiner (left), chancellor of the Oregon University System, and Matthew Donegan, president of the State Board of Higher Education, at a board meeting in March. After a gut-wrenching, two-hour search for a less painful path, Oregon higher education leaders Friday reluctantly approved an average 6 percent increase in tuition, including a controversial 9.9 percent jump at
Students opposed the SOU increase, arguing it surpasses a 6.5 percent limit set by the Legislature.
Milikaleakona "Tonga" Hopoi, in her last day as student body president at
, broke down in tears as she pleaded with the
at its meeting in Portland.
"I'm just asking you to remember what brought you to this table," she said. "Tuition should not be seen as revenue to be tapped."
Two student members on the board -- Brianna Coulumbe and Farbodd Ganjifard -- voted against the tuition hikes. Tiffany Dollar, student body president at
, said “you are placing these budgetary burdens on the backs of students.”
The relentless climb of tuition over the last two decades has hit a tipping point and enrollment is flatlining, said Emma Kallaway, legislative director of the
, in an interview.
SOU already cut $2.5 million from its budget next year and needs the tuition increase "to stabilize ourselves," said President Mary Cullinan.
Tuition increases will be offset by reductions in health insurance and other fees so the total cost will climb next fall an average 3.4 percent to $7,841 a year for a full-time resident undergraduate. At SOU in Ashland, total tuition and fees will climb 4.2 percent.
Still, the board explored tapping reserves to trim SOU's 9.9 percent tuition hike. The reserves are "for a rainy day, and it is raining pretty hard," said Jonathan Farmer, student body president at Western Oregon University.
"If you do that, there has to be some sunshine on the other side," said board member Jim Francesconi. "I don't see that."
George Pernsteiner, chancellor of the
, said SOU is in "very fragile financial condition" and cannot risk dipping deeper into reserves.
After the vote, Matthew Donegan, board president, concluded "that was the most difficult policy discussion I've ever been involved in."
In other action, the board:
-- Approved old and new programs for the OUS budget request to the Legislature for 2013-15. The seven universities received $691 million for this biennium, a 16 percent drop from 2009-11. Under Gov. John Kitzhaber's restructuring of education funding, the board will tie its budget to achievement goals.
-- Approved 2012-13 achievement targets for the system and each university. Among targets, the university system aims to award bachelor's degrees to 12,529 residents, give advance degrees to 2,788 and admit 3,332 Oregon freshmen with early college credit.
-- Recommended the University of Oregon and Portland State University have independent boards, which the Legislature must decide, with power to hire and fire the presidents. But the board said it should approve tuition and bonding requests and control each university's mission, property and achievement goals.
-- Met
the former head of New York City schools appointed by Kitzhaber to be Oregon's first chief education officer. Crew will have power over all levels of public education from preschool through graduate school. "I have a real interest in how teachers are prepared," Crew said. "The new world says there is a relationship between results that institutions demonstrate and the resources they get.