Board looks at current funding procedure
By LORI PETERSON
and KEVIN RASMUSEN
Of the Emerald
As rising tuition rates loom ov£f
our heads and legislative commit
tees juggle funding models, the
Oregon State Board of Higher
Education takes a long hard look
at current funding procedures for
state system schools.
Currently, the nine institutions
within the state system are funded
on the basis of the number of full
time equivalent (FTE) students
enrolled. One FTE is equivalent to
a student carrying 15 credit hours
a term. For every dollar paid by
students, taxpayers reimburse the
college about $2.80.
Funding based on FTE was
“adequate with growing enroll
ment, but not now,” said board
member Loren Wyss. Wyss said
“we’ve been left with an increas
ing fixed cost per student,” and
added that a cost support program
based on something other than
FTE was necessary.
Several bills touching directly
on this issue are pending action in
the Oregon Legislature. Two of
them specifically concern them
selves with finding an alternative
to the FTE-driven funding model.
Stafford Hanseil, director of the
state's Executive Department,
has proposed the first, which
would establish a floor belbw
which guaranteed funds from the
state could not drop. This funding
floor would not exceed a one per
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cent decrease from the current
budget allocation.
Chancellor Roy Lieuallen made
the second proposal this year, re
commmending a procedure that
would “stabilize the level of sup
port based on projections for a six
year period.’' He said this would
entail a “budget reduction, but not
so great as if it were based entirely
on the following year's enrollment
projections.
Lieuallen is chiefly concerned
about “dampening fluctuation" in
funding which would occur if it
were based entirely on enroll
ment. Although it somewhat con
flicts with his own, Lieuallen said
“the proposal by the Executive
Department is vastly superior to
an FTE-driven budget.
But Wyss cautioned that when
the state system is searching
around for a new technique of
funding, there's a tendency for the
Legislature and tax-paying public
to think it’s just a manipulative at
tempt to get more money. Lieual
len also said that the larger institu
tions still seem to cling to FTE as
the best present solution.
The House Education Commit
tee has introduced another bill ad
vocating a low tuition policy and
declaring the undergraduate resi
dent tuition to be frozen. The State
Board would have the authority to
increase tuition only after 1979.
“The cost of higher education
has nothing to do with the cost of
living,” says board member,
Robert Ingalls. Jane Carpenter,
another member, believes that by
raising non-resident tuition “we re
pricing ourselves out of the mar
ket."
In addition, Carpenter says the
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state runs the risk of “provincializ
ing" its institutions by not bringing
in out-of-state students. At a re
cent state board orientation meet
ing in Portland, she suggested
conducting a study to determine
whether the cost difference from
lowering the tuition was made up
by greater numbers of students
taking advantage of it.
Lieuallen replied, however, that
the only significant numbers of
non-resiuwni aiuuonia
Eugene and Corvallis. "Any time
we charge less than full cost, there
must be some increase in fund
ing,” he said. "When you go to full
cost of instruction, you pretty
much eliminate non-residents."
Ingalls also called for fiscal re
sponsibility on the parts of the in
stitutions within the state system
He said it would "also be well to
know what is actually done with
program improvement money
He felt he was representing the
taxpayers as well by wanting to
know whether funds allocated to a
college "were spent on an oscil
loscope or the president's parking
lot.” Ingalls indicated this might
require a "more or less uniform
accounting system at each institu
tion."
Moreover, Ingalls would like to
see if institution spending
matches legislature allocation.
Carpenter agreed, saying this
would be "reassuring to the Legis
lature."
She would also like to see a
comprehensive view of how much
funds are endowment, how much
are earmarked, and so forth
Loran "Stub Stewart, another
board member, said you d bejust
as confused afterwards as you are
now
Board member Edward Harms
replied, "At least we ll know why
we re confused."
Education may soon*
leave the campuses
By KEVIN RASMUSEN
and LORI PETERSON
Of the Emerald
Higher education is slowly out
growing its restriction to the col
lege campus, and the Oregon
State Board of Higher Education
indicated its recognition of this at a
recent orientation meeting in Port
land.
"There s a whole new world out
there in non-traditional educa
tion," board member Jane Car
penter said.
Two bills presently in the Legis
lature concern the definition of
continuing education in Oregon.
The first bill, House Bill 2025, de
fines continuing education geog
raphically as offerings by an in
stitution which are held outside a
30-mile radius of the institution.
The second bill, HB 2037, pro
vides for the allocation of
$250,000 for non-traditional edu
cation.
Continuing education is done in
cooperation with community col
leges, according to Roy Lieuallen
state system chancellor,
"whereby any program we offer
off campus will be upper division
or graduate level ”
Lower division courses are of
kr
fered only after it has been ascer
tained a community college is un
willing to provide the service. Car
penter said community colleges
are many times not equipped to
offer a program
Carpenter said, however. "I feel
very strongly we re not taking any
initiatives in this area.
She is concerned with future
developments in non-traditional
education, and added, "The impli
cations are infinite But we re mop
ping up instead of taking mitA
tives. We re too occupied with juy
keeping the ball rolling.
Board member Robert Ingalls
expressed concern about where
the funds go that are paid by con
tinuing education students be
cause some merely entrepreneur
ial programs also exist in the state
Lieuallen reassured him legiti
mate programs still have to be
administered by the Division of
Continuing Education.
In addition, Ingalls asked if a
professor "burning the midnight
oil for a non-traditional program
is still in good condition for teach
ing his regular courses Ed
Harms, another board member,
indicated continuing education
(Continued on Page 19)
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