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the price tag is too high for the new
model to receive full funding.
And without all the money,
Oregon university officials say the
new model won’t work because it
won’t provide enough money to
ensure all universities remain fi
nancially stable.
The changes, passed by the
State Board of Higher Education in
July, reform how the annual $500
million pool of state and tuition
money is distributed to Oregon’s
public universities. Each univer
sity would keep its own tuition
dollars, earn state money based on
its enrol l ment and have more con
trol over initiating new programs
to attract more students.
lo start using the new system,
$121.2 million is required in addi
tion to the $639.1 million necessary
to nin Oregon’s universities with
out any funding-model changes.
The additional money includes
funding to maintain Oregon’s
smaller public schools to insure
they won’t close their doors if their
enrollment figures and revenue do
not match what is predicted in the
new model. It also includes fund
ing to keep tuition rates at 1996-97
levels for undergraduates.
In the Legislature
The money to reform the state's
public universities’ funding sys
tem is available this year, it is just a
matter of getting the Legislature’s
attention.
That is Adams’ opinion, citing
figures from a September 1998 Of
fice of Economic Analysis report
that forecasts a more than $100
million jump in 1997-99 revenue
compared to the forecast made at
the close of the 1997 legislative
session.
Recent history, however, would
show that higher education will
not get the money just because it
is there.
Since Measure 5 — which low
ered property taxes — passed in
1990, the amount of state money
given to Oregon’s public higher
education has fallen by more than
$100 million.
Adams, a Grants Pass Republi
can, said he believes the lobbying
effort of other needy groups has
been more persuasive over the last
few years. The state’s public K-12
schools are extremely well orga
nized, he said, sending thousands
of supporters to Salem to make
their case. This year, the competi
tion tor money will not be any dif
ferent, he said, and higher educa
tion supporters need to make
lobbyinga priority.
“If they aren’t down there indicat
ing their interest and support, the K
12 or community colleges or health
and human services will be,” he
said. “For this to happen, it’s going
to have to require a partnership be
tween faculty, administration and
students, all those that have an in
terest. ...They’re going to have to be
more than passively interested.”
Adams finds the new system at
tractive because of its market-based
approach, allowing the funding to
follow each student and giving uni
versities control over how they op
erate. In addition, its performance
based approach is designed to mea
sure how well the money is being
used instead of “just saying, send
me a check and don’t watch what I
do, ” he said.
Representative Floyd Prozanski
agrees that the model makes high
er education more “accountable. ”
It is a buzzword he has heard
since he came to the Legislature in
1995. Oregon’s higher education
always needed to be accountable
for the money it received and effi
cient in its spending.
With the new plan, now it
seems like it is, he said.
“I feel at this point the Legisla
ture is going to put its money
where its mouth is,” the Lane
County Democrat said. “If we’re
going to expect all this account
ability, we need to make certain
that the university system has the
tools in place to accomplish that.”
As a Eugene attorney, Prozanski
said he has observed firsthand the
effects of1994’s Measure 11, which
requires permanent mandatory
sentences for juvenile crime. In
stead of using money proactively in
schools and higher education, he
said, he has seen state funds go to
ward building more prisons.
“The frustrating thing as a pros
ecutor is when budgets for correc
tions surpass higher education,”
he said. “Something tells us we’re
heading the wrong way, and we
need to turn around and head back
the other way.”
The Universities
University officials are calling
the $121 million a “return,” not an
“extra.”
University Vice President Dan
Williams said that, when he came
to the University in the 80s, the
state used to fund more than 30
percent of the Oregon public uni
versities’ total expenses. But over
the years the proportion has dwin
dled to 20 percent, shifting the
added expense to students.
He said the money request
should not be thought of as addi
tional money needed, but what is
necessary.
"We’d like to get back to the
place we were 20 years ago,” he
said. “It’s not as if we're getting
something we don’t need. We’re
asking them to return us to the lev
el we were and should be. ”
He’s optimistic that the free
market approach will appeal to
legislators — forcing universities
to perform their best to attract the
students who will pay the money
tor tneir operation.
Oregon University System
spokesman Philip Bransford said
the new model is easier for legis
lators to understand as well. For
example, they can look up the
state’s contribution for any type of
student, from engineering to com
puter science, to compare the
higher cost of one to the other.
The Bottom Line
Oregon university officials are
not budging on the $120 million
figure.
Bransford said the calculation
includes a minimum amount of re
sources to ensure that the Western
and Eastern Oregon universities
will not close under a new system.
This is necessary because the
system’s figures are based on en
rollment numbers that predict Ore
gon’s public universities will in
crease by 3,900 full-time students
by the 2000-01 school year, causing
all universities to gain funding.
If the system’s smaller schools
do not see that increase, the $120
million would stabilize them.
Without full funding, Bransford
said, the model will not work and the
system would be stuck somewhere
between the old and new systems.
Realistically, they will not get
the $120 million. That is the opin
ion of Oregon Student Association
executive director Ed Dennis, who
sees the economy heading down
ward to the point where $120 mil
lion is too much. Even with $70
million in funds, “We should all
party and dance in the streets,”
said Dennis, who heads the stu
dent lobbyinggroup.
With only $30 million to $50
million from the Legislature, he
said, Oregon’s larger universities
will end up subsidizing the smaller
ones again — what the new model
was designed to get away from.
Brady Adams believes the axil ition
could collapse if funding is short and
smaller schools lose out, based on his
talks with university presidents.
But Adams sees this as OUS’s
only shot.
“This is truly a crossroads,”
Adams said, addingthat ifthe Legis
lature is not willing to fully fund the
model, "I will doubt in the future
we’ll have that opportunity again.”
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