noerald
An Independent Newspaper
Vol. 78, No. 2
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, July 13, 1976
Photo by Perry GasM
N.Y. rep visits tall timber
Oregon congressperson Jim Weaver (right) shows New York congressperson Fred Richmond core sample
of Oregon s famous Douglas Fir. Fourth district representative Weaver invited the Brooklyn freshman to see
the Willamette National Forest first hand before voting on the timber bills facing the House Agriculture
Committee Before today," said Richmond, "I though clearcutting was out. But after visiting these
clearcuts, I can see that our national forests can be managed as tree farms with proper professional
supervisions."
Student shot, suspect arrested
A 24-year-old University stu
dent was shot and fatally
wounded 10 p.m. Saturday in an
attempted robbery of Tom’s Mar
ket at 19th Avenue and Agate
Street.
Dead is Eric Carsten Thede of
1475 E. 19th Ave., Eugene. The
former geography major originally
came from Santa Barbara, Calif.,
and was working as a clerk at the
market.
Poiice apprehended 20 - year -
old suspect Robert Alan Arm
strong, of Bakersfield, Calif.,
around midnight in a nearby
apartment. Armstrong offered no
resistance, and police reports say
the firearm was recovered. He is
being charged with armed robbery
and murder. Arraignment was
scheduled for Monday.
Ad deadline
misprinted
We regret that we published
the wrong deadline for clas
sified ads in our July 6 issue.
We should have said that the
deadline is Friday 1 p.m. So,
relax. You ve got another day
to get in those Personals.
V J
Voucher tuition system
tied to consumerism
By MARTHA BUSS
Of the Emrald
While the issue of rising tuition
rates has enjoyed a bright spot
light of discussion during the past
school year, another aspect of the
tuition question is slowly edging
on stage. The idea of replacing the
present method of public funding
for postsecondary education with
a voucher tuition system is under
discussion in the Legislative In
terum Subcommittee on Post
secondary Education.
Under a voucher system, the
public funding which currently
goes immediately to the State
Board of Higher Education or to
the individual institutions would
channel directly to individual stu
dents. Every high school graduate
would receive a voucher, or "port
able grant." which could be ap
plied to any institution in the state
for postseceondary education.
The institutions, both pubic and
private, would therefore rely heav
ily on the consumers of their pro
ducts (the students) for a major
portion of their financial re
sources
Such a state level voucher sys
tem would resemble the present
federal - level Basic Educational
Opportunity Grant (BEOG) prog
ram, which allots a quaified stu
dent up to $1,400 for his post
secondary education, to be ob
tained wherever the student
chooses.
Roy Lieuallen, chancellor of the
board, explains the whole voucher
idea as “placing in the hands of
the students a requisition for ser
vices at an institution, rather than
appropriating money to the institu
tion. The voucher would not be
cashable at the bank, and you
couldn't buy a hamburger with it."
While any voucher system is a
distant possibility at the Univer
sity, both pros and cons toward
the subject are already well formu
lated. Lieuallen says he has “no
quarrel" with the voucher idea, but
has not yet seen any specific
voucher plan which he approves
of In fact, he "vigorously and
strenuously" opposes the specific
voucher plan currently before the
subcommittee because he fears it
would raise tuition rates.
This plan was presented to the
subcommittee June 24 by Stafford
Hansell, director of the State Ex
ecutive Department and a
member of the Oregon Educa
tional Coordinating Commission.
Hansell claims the plan would
provide the following:
• Reduce student fees during
the first two years of postsecon
dary education.
• Expand consumerism by al
lowing students to “shop around"
for the school of their choice.
• Expand access to a broader
range of postsecondary institu
tions.
• Contain rapidly expanding
education costs.
• Allow greater student sharing
of graduate and professional edu
cational costs.
In effect, Hansell’s plan would
save the state approximately $9
million a year in funding students
in the Oregon State System of
Higher Education (OSSHE), while
it would pay considerably more
toward community and indepen
dent colleges. Lieuallen objects to
this plan because this $9 million
now coming out ot state funds
would have to come from the poc
kets of OSSHE students.
“The students would get ripped
off," he says.
In addition to the raised tuition
which would result from Hansell’s
plan, Lieuallen disagrees with the
idea of "greater student sharing
for graduate and professional
educational costs.” He fears that
advanced research and “needed
but high-cost instructional prog
rams would suffer greatly if stu
dents were required to pay more
for their advanced studies.
John Wish, a University as
sociate professor in marketing, of
fers another view on this idea of
greater student shanng for ad
vanced studies.
According to Wish, a voucher
plan which would appropriate
enough money for no more than
four years of postsecondary edu
cation to every resident student
would “enable us to keep track of
the perpetual student."
Such perpetual students, Wish
fears, usually come from rich
families which can support the
higher costs of advanced study
themselves. The problem, he
says, is that advanced study prog
rams are now ironically funded
more by the state than are under
graduate programs and therefore
“the poor and middle class are
taxed to subsidize the rich.”
Wish cites the case of a medical
student to substantiate his point.
He says that the state approp
riates approximately $12,000 a
year toward the medical student,
who eventually ends up in the top
two per cent of the nation’s in
come bracket. Wish considers
such training as medical, law and
MBA to be personal investments
which should stem solely from the
involved students themselves.
“There has to be a time when
students stop feeding at the public
trough,” he says. Wish says he
bases his arguments for a vou
cher tuition system on principles
of equity.
Lieuallen counters this argu
ment by saying the advanced
levels of study should not be re
stricted to the rich and that they
are vital to a university commun
ity.
If approved by the Legislature,
the plan presented by Han sell to
the subcommittee would be ph
ased in over a two-year period,
beginning in 1978. Although the
plan is far from securing legisla
tive approval, Lieuallen thinks
students should be aware of the
possibility of a voucher system
now so that they can voice their
opinions on it before it is approved
and thereby too late.