State universities start academic year on budgeted boost.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

More than 81,000 students are expected to pour into the state's seven university campuses for the start of classes today, beginning a school year in which the university system for the first time in almost a decade isn't fighting against a fiscal tide.

They are joined by more than 350,000 full- and part-time community college students, who also are benefiting from some of the first statewide budget increases for higher education since the 2000 recession kicked in.

"I think there's a great deal more optimism on the campuses," Oregon University System Chancellor George Pernsteiner said. "It may not show so much in enrollment this fall, but I think the optimism on most campuses is palpable."

The reasons for that optimism boil down to dollars. Buoyed by an expanding economy and the tax revenue it's expected to produce, the Oregon Legislature this year approved substantial increases for both university and community college budgets (22 percent and 18 percent, respectively), made a sweeping investment in financial aid and approved one of the largest slates of construction projects in state history.

The state budget allowed universities and community colleges to hold tuition to modest increases, about 3 percent for the seven OUS campuses. Statewide figures aren't yet available for community colleges, but Lane Community College increased tuition 5 percent, to $73 per credit from $69.50.

At the University of Oregon, resident undergraduate tuition and fees are $6,186 per year, a 3.4 percent increase. Most students pay additional class fees based on their major; students also can lower tuition by taking lower-priced classes offered in the early morning and late afternoon.

While the new state investments will take time to work their way through to individual campuses - the additional money for financial aid, for example, won't start phasing in until 2008 - the investments have many campus leaders feeling that the state at least is beginning to reverse three biennia of disinvestment.

"I think people now feel as if the state is willing to invest in its higher education and in the future of its citizens," Pernsteiner said.

At the same time, improvements in financial aid at the federal level are on the way, with Pell grants set to increase by a third and student loan rates to be cut in half in the next five years. And colleges and universities in Oregon go into the year without the prospect of a fall ballot measure that would slash state revenue and force new rounds of higher education cuts.

"The chance we have to breathe more deeply because we don't have to face a devastating ballot measure is a positive," UO President Dave Frohnmayer said. "There's a sense it's not going downhill."

But Frohnmayer is only cautiously optimistic.

He noted that the university system and the UO have a long way to go to make up the ground that has been lost, not only in the past six years but also since the state's contribution to higher education fell dramatically after the 1990 passage of Measure 5: The state spent 15 percent of its general fund on higher education in 1989; before this biennium, that had fallen to 6.3 percent.

The UO will see a projected increase of 12.4 percent in its state budget allocation in the biennium. While Frohnmayer said that's good news, he pointed out it's not nearly enough to buy back all the cuts that were made as the state struggled through the recession.

"It has also created a much-heightened level of expectation, and that does collide with reality at some point," he said. "We won't be able to do all the things we want to do with the intensity with which we would like to do them."

Frohnmayer also noted that the UO received the smallest percentage increase of any campus in the state system. By comparison, Oregon State University will see a 19.5 percent increase and Portland State University an 18 percent increase.

Community colleges are more of a mixed bag, although some are seeing enough revenue growth to begin building back from a series of budget cuts that in many cases were deeper than those experienced by universities. LCC, though, still faces another round of cuts next year.

LCC President Mary Spilde said the college probably will need to cut several million from the 2008-09 budget after cutting almost $4 million this year, not including the reductions made in previous years that carried through.

After cutting budgets in nine of the past 12 years, Spilde said she's committed to doing whatever it takes to stop the cycle.

"If we have to cut more, I want this year to be the last," she said.

The college begins negotiations soon on salary agreements with unions for its faculty and support staff. With more than 70 percent of the budget tied up in salaries, Spilde said she's committed to making sure the college can live within its means.

"I just want to get to a place where we have enough money year after year to do what we're doing," she said.