State budget leaves housing
and tuition prices in limbo
In light of a possible tuition cap, the state's board
of education will wait before setting 2005-06fees
BY ADAM CHERRY
NEWS REPORTER
Students will have to wait until
July to find out the cost of attending
the University next year. The State
Board of Higher Education decided
Friday to defer its vote on the 2005-06
academic year Fee Book, despite a
commitment to students to address
the issue during the academic year.
The decision was made in antici
pation of a limit being placed on tu
ition by the state legislature, which
has discussed measures to buy
down tuition increases with state ap
propriations, according to an Oregon
University System press release. If a
limit is approved at the statehouse,
final tuition rates could be lower
than the provisional rates presented
in the Fee Book, which match the 7
percent average system-wide in
crease proposed by Governor Ted
Kulongoski in the state budget he
recommended to the legislature.
University students would benefit
slightly less on raw tuition costs from
the 7 percent cap than students of
some other OUS institutions if the Fee
Book were passed as is. University
resident undergraduates would pay
$1,530 per term next academic year
for tuition if they took 15 credits — 8
percent higher than in the current ac
ademic year. However, because of
slower increases in mandatory fees,
those students would pay only about
7 percent more overall. Nonresidents
would pay about 3 percent more and
graduates 6-7 percent more in total
tuition and mandatory fees.
The Fee Book also sets levels for
I
program resource fees and room and
board rates, many of which will also
see increases.
Housing has proposed a rate in
crease of about 4.5 percent for the
“standard package,” which consists
of a standard double room and stan
dard 80-point meal plan. Next year’s
students would pay $7,209, up from
this year’s charge of $6,894.
The increase is slightly smaller
than last year’s increase of approxi
mately 4.8 percent.
Nevertheless, the rate wouldn’t ap
ply to all of the rooms currently classi
fied as “standard.” The addition of
four new room classifications would
recognize the additional amenities of
fered in some complexes, like Carson
Hall, and assess rate increases accord
ingly. A double that included a sink,
for instance, would cost $7,547 with
a standard meal plan.
Allen Gidley, director of business
affairs for housing, said the point of
the new rate schedule is to better
match price to the level of service and
size of the room.
“The purpose was to better ac
count for and make amenable the dif
ferences and service (students re
ceive),” Gidley said, adding that
generating more revenue was not part
of housing’s reasoning.
“We don’t expect it to generate
any huge amount of different rev
enue,” he said. “Our standard
room is, by far and away, the vast
majority of the rooms we have
available for students.”
Housing will also offer a new meal
plan, a “Mini Package,” with which
students would receive 65 meal
points. The relatively lower cost of
that plan nearly compensates for the
rate increase in the standard package.
Room and board would cost only
$6,922, $28 less than the current cost
of a standard double.
The smaller meal package will help
accommodate students who just
don’t eat as much, said Gidley. Some
residents complained about having
leftover points they would have to
“cash out” at the end of the week.
Because of substantial variation be
tween housing plans at the different
OUS campuses, it is difficult to com
pare room and board rates across the
system. According to the comparison
chart printed in the Fee Book, howev
er, the University’s rates figure at the
top. Even the proposed price for
housing’s 13-meal mini plan next
year is more expensive than all but
one of the plans that the deluxe op
tion is compared against on the chart.
The University’s Law School, Col
lege of Allied Arts and Architecture
and Honors College will all face sub
stantial increases in programmatic re
source fees next year if the Fee Book
is passed. Resource fees are per-term
charges assessed to students based
on their enrollment in a particular
major or college.
The Oregon Student Association
has criticized the charges, calling
them back-door tuition increases, but
college administrators say that they’ll
have trouble operating without the
extra revenue.
“They really are part and parcel of
how we pay for the law school’s pro
gram,” Margaret Paris, law professor
and associate dean for academic af
fairs, said. “What the tuition provides
in this program is not nearly enough
BUDGET, page 8A
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Shasta deaths cause
authorities, campus
to revisit concerns
With only a few safety officers covering Shasta Lake,
personal accountability is a necessity for partiers
BY MORIAH BALINGIT
NEWS REPORTER
Four days. Five thousand people.
Thirty houseboats. Five to 10 kegs of
beer per houseboat.
This is what the 14 deputies of the
Shasta County Sheriff’s Boating Safe
ty Unit have to contend with during
Memorial Day Weekend on Slaugh
terhouse Island at Shasta Lake, a
popular destination for college-aged
partiers, especially fraternity and
sorority members.
“I had every employee I had work
ing on the weekend,” Sgt. Mark Lilje
grin, the head the Boating Safety Unit,
said. “And we have only nine boats on
the water.”
About 30,000 people come to the
lake during its biggest weekend of the
year. Liljegrin said with his staff
stretched so thin, he can’t monitor
every college student on the island.
Some infractions, such as Minor in
Possession, typically go unenforced
because deputies are dealing with
more critical situations.
“I’ve got 14 people to take care of
30,000 people. We’re not going to
baby-sit them on the island,” he said.
“Personal accountability has got to
come in somewhere,”
This year, Shasta Lake has seen an
unusual number of deaths. Last
month, an Oregon State University stu
dent committed suicide on the island
during weekend festivities, and last
weekend, University student Joel Mey
er drowned after falling and hitting his
head on a boat railing.
Though he wishes he could, Lilje
grin can’t prevent every death that
could potentially occur on the lake.
He said even one death is unac
ceptable. “I take it very personally
when someone doesn’t come home
from the lake.”
In addition to the two deaths, Lil
jegrin said he handled numerous
calls for medical emergencies, deal
ing with injuries of varying severity.
One student was hospitalized with al
cohol poisoning.
“There were probably 40 to 50 med
ical assists for a variety of minor to ma
jor injuries,” he said. He estimated that
alcohol was involved with the vast ma
jority of the injuries. “It’s generally be
cause they’re unstable on their feet.”
The University has long sponsored
efforts to try and make the event
safer for Shasta Lake party-goers.
This year, the Intrafraternity and Pan
hellenic Council co-sponsored a pro
gram to educate students about the
dangers of partying at Shasta Lake in
an effort to reduce the risk of injuries
or a tragedy occurring.
“We talked about water safety, alco
hol awareness, being careful with the
sun, sexual awareness and stuff like
that,” Intrafraternity President Brian
Robertson said. “If they’re going to go
down there, we want to make sure
they’re educated as best as possible.”
Robertson said the program drew at
least one person from each fraternity
SHASTA, page 5A
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