A proposal being pushed through the 2011 legislative session is attempting to move Oregon Public Universities away from state governance as a solution to the budget crisis facing Oregon public universities and the state as a whole.
Heads of Oregon public higher education are pushing to change the status of the Oregon University System from a state agency, like the Department of Motor Vehicles, to a public university system, which is how community colleges and the K-12 systems are currently run.
According to OSU President Ed Ray, public universities answer to the state in terms of how revenue, even tuition dollars paid by students and families, is spent. That same money is also up for grabs by the state of Oregon in order to fill any funding gaps in areas unrelated to higher education.
“Legislators will look at our fund balances and they would just take it,” Ray said in an interview with The Daily Barometer. “(The problem is) we usually have more money at the beginning of the quarter when everyone has paid their tuition than at the end of the quarter after we have spent it.”
According to Tyler Hogan, Oregon Student Association board member, the OSA is still learning what it can about the proposed legislation and what it will mean for the students of Oregon’s public universities. The organization has not yet taken a stance supporting or denouncing the proposal, but is hoping to make a decision on the matter in two weeks.
“We don’t want to make a decision without knowing as much as possible about each legislation,” Hogan said.
While the association has yet to make up its mind, the OSA is adamant on several key points that would need to be satisfied before giving a stamp of approval.
“Our biggest concern is adequate student representation, specifically with the tuition-setting process,” Hogan said. “And also that there is a sense of accountability within the tuition-setting process.”
Ray said that tuition would not increase any more under a public system than it would if universities remained a state agency.