State leads nation in cuts to colleges.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

Oregon made the deepest cuts to higher education of any state in the country this year, according to a report issued today by a national policy group.

The study from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education shows Oregon led the nation with an 11 percent drop in state funding for colleges and universities, just ahead of the 10 percent cut in Missouri. Nationally, state support of higher education rose an average of 1 percent during the study period.

The state has cut $88 million from the $808 million higher education budget the Legislature approved in 2001. Community colleges fared worse, seeing a 21 percent decrease from their original budget of $474.5 million.

Oregon University System Chancellor Richard Jarvis said the new figures weren't surprising, given the depth of the state's economic woes and the fact that the budget crisis hit at the same time enrollment is swelling. He said it just reinforces the poor marks Oregon has received in other recent studies, including an "F" in affordability in a report card issued by the same group last year.

"I think that we have just been reeling under these shocks," Jarvis said. "It's a very serious picture. This just continues the pattern that gave us the 'F.' '

Oregon has poor numbers in two other key areas as well: financial aid and tuition.

The state cut financial aid by 10 percent this year, putting it about the middle of the 17 states that pared both tuition aid and the overall higher education appropriation. And while the study showed Oregon with the second-smallest university tuition increase in the nation at 3 percent, the center apparently didn't have the most recent figures.

Tuition increased an average of 7 percent at four-year universities following the defeat of Measure 28, bringing the total increase for the year close to the national average of 10 percent.

Will Doyle, senior policy analyst for the San Jose, Calif.-based center that issued the report, said only a few states both raised tuition and cut financial aid. He said that makes Oregon's situation particularly dire.

"Those trends coming together are really worrisome," he said.

"If you're increasing tuition and at the same time decreasing financial aid, those arrows really are going in the wrong direction."

And another increase may be coming.

Spring term tuition will rise again if the next state revenue forecast prompts another round of budget cuts later this month.

If so, students at the University of Oregon will pay an extra $3 per credit hour, on top of the $10 per credit hour increase winter term. That would boost UO tuition another 3.5 percent, costing students $92 per credit hour.

Students at community colleges fared even worse, with tuition statewide up an average of 15.6 percent. But the rate varied at individual schools, with Lane Community College seeing a whopping 35.5 percent increase to $51.50 per credit hour with a post-Measure 28 surcharge figured in.

A "triple whammy" of cuts in state funding and financial aid and rising tuition puts the state's future in jeopardy, higher education experts said.

High tuition will cut enrollment, making it harder to attract the new businesses needed to break out of the economic slump, they said.

"In the 21st century, an educated citizenry is the most important asset a state can have, and letting yourself backslide on affordability and participation is going to have long-term implications," said Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

"I think that states that don't find a way to address this are going to find themselves very much at a competitive disadvantage in the new economy."

UO Provost John Moseley said that although enrollment is at an all-time high, the state could see a repeat of the enrollment declines that followed the passage of Measure 5 in 1990.

Moseley said that created a "lost generation," an estimated 20,000 young people who couldn't afford the steep tuition increases needed to balance big cuts in higher education funding.

"We're going to see that again," Moseley said. "We're really selling the future short."

Adam Petkun, state affairs coordinator for UO student government, said he believes the rising price of higher education will put it out of reach of many students, although he acknowledged that the numbers are hard to predict.

Petkun noted that Oregon already has 18,000 people who received no state financial aid this year even though they qualify for it, and he said that number will increase to 25,000 under the governor's proposed budget.

"While it's hard to know the numbers, I'm sure a lot of students won't be able to come back," he said. "Students definitely will be hit pretty hard."

And if enrollment doesn't decline, Jarvis said, universities may not be able to meet the demand.

Jarvis said universities are determined to maintain the quality of their programs despite declining state support, and that means most will be forced to limit enrollment.

"The question is how do we maintain access and ensure quality," he said. "It's the quality aspect that never gets into this conversation that's the most scary thing of all, because we do no one any good by eroding quality."