The University of Oregon has increased the enrollment of out-of-state students over the years in order to bring needed revenue and help keep the price of education down as operational costs increase and state funding remains a small portion of the budget.
Next year, increased costs for employee benefits and a tuition freeze for in-state residents for 2014-2015, may put an additional strain on the university budget and further increase university dependence on out-of-state tuition.
The Public Employment Retirement System is a university expense that has increased dramatically over the past years. From 2010 to 2013, the cost for the pension went up from $30.4 million to $50 million.
The most significant increase in the PERS costs came in the 2012 fiscal year when rates jumped $15 million. According to an email from Vice President for Finance and Administration Jaime Moffitt, if not for the recent legislative PERS reform, the UO would have expected another significant increase.
Health care is also another increasing expense for the university and is referred under the Public Employees’ Benefit Board costs. The university spent $53.1 million on PEBB costs in 2010 and $63.6 million in 2013. Retirement costs per employee vary depending on when they were hired and what health plan they chose. According to Moffitt, health care costs per full time employee are currently running at $15,120 per year.
The UO does not control the costs for PERS and PEBB. Those are set by the state. All figures listed show total amounts for the entire university.
Though the tuition setting process is currently underway and an official price tag won’t be set until late spring, Moffitt certainly doesn’t expect to see a decrease in the cost of out-of-state tuition.
According to enrollment data from the UO Office of Institutional Research, this year out-of-state students made up nearly half of the student body with 11,419 enrolled.
“We are always cognizant of the fact that student tuition is the largest source of university resources,” Associate Dean of Finance Administration Gordon Taylor said. “We do our very best to allocate them efficiently, responsibly and effectively.”
California resident and UO senior Michelle Harvey felt like attending an out of state college was her only option, due to competition among state residents in the University of California system.
Out of three other out-of-state schools, Harvey chose UO because it was the most affordable. Still, she has found it necessary to take out student loans to pay for education.
“It hinders what I am going to do next because it’s going to be adding on to student loans,” the education major said. “But I’m thankful I have more school to do to put off paying for student loans.” Harvey plans to go grad school next year.
Correction: An earlier draft of this article incorrectly stated that out-of-state students comprised more than half of the UO’s 2013-2014 enrollment. The 11,419 non-resident students represent 46.5 percent of the student body, not a majority. There were 24,548 students enrolled at UO this academic year.