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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2005)
■ Guest commentary Consolidated debt pool causes problems for University students If only people knew that while liv ing in our residence halls, they were helping to pay for the residence halls built at Oregon State University. Yes, this sounds strange, but wait — there is more. Most students know that the University of Oregon residence halls are a little out-of-date, but did you know that our residents pay some of the highest prices in the state? Where does this money go? Why should you care? Well, I am a huge Duck fan, and I know that when recruits visit the University they don’t just check out Autzen Stadium, they go look at the place they will be living: the resi dence halls. Let me tell you about something called the consolidated debt pool and a little talk I had with the governor. In the simplest terms, the consoli dated debt pool was an agreement amongst the Oregon University Sys tem schools in which every time a school built a new residence hall, all the universities would divide up the cost amongst them based on the number of students that go to that university. The consolidated debt pool system was eventually aban doned; however, the debt remains. Right before the debt pool ended, OSU and Eastern Oregon University built new residential facilities, tack ing on a considerable amount to the total debt shared by all OUS schools. The University of Oregon, being as large as it is, took on a great amount of the debt every time a new hall was built, causing University Housing to continue to raise rates to maintain the current services. Our University has the highest priced residence halls in the OUS, yet the University has not built a new residence hall in about 50 years. This is, of course, with the exception of the new Living Learning Center, which will only add rooms for around 300 students. There will still be approximately 3,000 students who remain in the older buildings. This means University residents have been paying for other schools’ resi dence halls, and will continue to pay for them until the debt is paid off. In the end, we are left with a higher cost and more difficulty in updating and improving our residence halls. Earlier this week during a bill sign ing at the University, Gov. Ted Kulon goski spoke a lot about giving Orego nians the opportunity to go to college with the Oregon Opportunity Grant. I thought it made sense to give University students the equal oppor tunity to live in the residence halls in order to receive the complete college experience. As a representative of all University of Oregon residence hall students, I asked what the governor’s plans were concerning the consoli dated debt pool that has disadvan taged University students. He said he was aware of the system; however, when I asked him how he was help ing out, he discussed more capital improvement money for new build ings. I feel that allocating additional resources is only a temporary fix that would allow the University to gener ate more revenue in order to help deal with the debt. As for the stu dents living in the halls now or in the near future, this form of relief may come too late. And this is why I en couraged the Governor to make relieving the debt a priority. I encourage all of those who read this article to write to the governor, your state representatives, and your student representatives encouraging them to advocate for the relief of the debt accumulated by this consolidated debt pool. 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Wt PVil 0\iT • « I . . . great events UO Cultural Forum your campus connection to music, film, speakers, visual arts, contemporary issues, and performing arts events I JASON MRAZ Thursday, Nov. 10 / 7 p.n. live at the Huit Center tickets on sale September 30 9 a,m.: open to UO students noop: ooen to public with Janas Blunt & Tristan Prattynan FLOGGING MOLLY Wednesday, Oct. 12 / 8:30 p.a. WOW Hall / Tickets $18/20 THE HACKENSAW BOYS Thursday, Sapt. 29 / 3*3° P*»* biuegrass string music j f.HU Amphitheater (ree \ PAINTINGS BY ARTIST FRANK MORO ! Thursday, Oct. c / S p.n. Buzz Cafe, opening reception ■ree GYPSY CONCERTED DANCE PARTY Tuesday, Oct* 2d / ??30 p at Agate Halt 3ypsy music from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia St Turkey tickets $10, $8 students INTERESTED IN WORKING OR VOLUNTEERING WITH THE CULTURAL FORUI^1?VISIT OUR WEB SITE, DROP BY SUITE 2 OF THE EMU, OR CALL 346-4373
