If the Oregon Legislature provides more funding for education, universities will slow skyrocketing costs for students.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
If the Oregon Legislature provides more funding for education, universities will slow skyrocketing costs for students.
The Statesman Journal details the offer:
University administrators have spent most of the year pushing aggressively for a two-year budget of $755 million, which they say would restore their funding to roughly the level it was at in 2007 without adjusting for inflation. Their funding request is $85 million more than legislative budget writers initially proposed.
If they get their way, the universities are promising to spend the additional money on initiatives that help more students graduate at a lower cost. That includes lower tuition for students that need it, more advisers and faculty. The proposal “would give students and legislators some security that the money would be spent very directly in a way to increase student success,” Wim Wiewel, president of Portland State University, said Monday. “We are very hopeful that with that kind of a certainty, the Legislature would use some of that additional money that is available to provide more funding for the universities.”
Lawmakers have been slow to express their opinions, reports the Register-Guard:
Democratic Rep. Peter Buckley, co-chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, declined to say whether the budget panel is likely to grant the universities their request, citing an agreement with Senate co-chairman Richard Devlin not to talk publicly about their deliberations. But Buckley said he and Devlin have asked the university administrators to commit to specific achievements if they get additional money.
“We are asking, ‘If we can get more money into your budget, what can we expect in terms of the goals we’re after?’ ” Buckley said.
