| From West by Northwest.org Voices of the Northwest Sadler's Sense: The Risks of Shifting Higher Ed.'s Costs and Who Pays By Russell Sadler Apr 7, 2005
It was probably an act of frustration. State Rep. Bill Ackerman, D-Eugene, sponsored a bill prohibiting state’s colleges and universities from increasing tuition and fees. Ackerman calls his bill a “shot across the bow” to express his dissatisfaction with “confiscatory tuition and fees” at Oregon’s state-run colleges and universities. Oregon Republicans pranced in their suburban precincts for the last 15 years reciting their mantra of “no new taxes.” Those are code words. The Republicans really mean no new income taxes. But during the last 15 years that Oregon Republicans controlled the state’s purse strings, they have not seen a fee increase they didn’t like. Over the last 15 years the state’s coffers swelled by billions of dollars -- nearly all from fee increases -- notably college tuition and fees. When I came to Oregon 40 years ago to attend the University of Oregon, the tuition of $225 per term represented about 25 percent of the undergraduate per-student cost of that education. The other 75 percent came from taxpayers. The idea was to keep tuition low to create the most opportunity for the most students, then recapture the money from the income taxes of those students who enjoyed the better-than-average income that often comes with college degrees. It was a winning philosophy that underpinned the growth of the Oregon workforce and the prosperity the state enjoyed after World War II. It came to an end during the 1980s recession. Various interest groups used the recession-induced financial crisis to quietly change the state’s entire philosophy of post-high school education. The low-tuition philosophy was replaced by a philosophy of “high tuition, high aid,” promoted by the state’s private colleges and universities, along with conservatives who wanted to find a way to shift the burden supporting state colleges and universities from taxpayers and stick it students and their families. In practice the “high aid” never materialized or took the form of loans. During the 1990s, the average student at Oregon’s public universities graduated between $18,000 - $23,000 in debt. Today’s state university tuition and fees represent about 75 percent of the cost of the average undergraduate education. Taxpayers only put up about 25 percent of the cost. Shifting the cost of post-high school education from all taxpayer to students and miring them in debt is dangerous ground as we try to persuade today’s college and university graduates to continue underwriting an older generation’s Social Security benefits. Since the 1980s, the Oregon Legislature has been a poor steward of Oregon’s educational patrimony. Built by taxpayers over generations, the state’s colleges and universities are a priceless asset. Over the last 15 years, the Legislature that controls the state’s purse strings has cut that asset loose to drift on its own. It can no longer drift. Someone must have a hand on the rudder. Absent a last-minute legislative injection of financial support that is unlikely, the centralized control of the state’s universities under the State Board of Higher Education has become dysfunctional and actually threatens Oregon’s public higher education. It appears Oregon Republicans simply want to shift the burden of higher education onto students and their parents. The best response the Democrats can muster is a ban on raising fees and tuition, which forces either salary cuts or layoffs leaving fewer classes for fewer students. If this is the best that august body can do has no business managing higher education. The alternative is to cut the state universities loose, each to be governed by its own board of directors, to find its own way in the “marketplace.” The University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Southern Oregon University would prosper. Although late coming to the game, they are quite successful at getting gifts and grants to build endowments for operating and capital costs. These institutions are older and have a large alumni base of successful people who are nearing the end of their lives and willing to give some of the fruits of their success to their alma mater. The survival of Western and Eastern Oregon universities and Oregon Institute of Technology is more problematical. Historically smaller, teacher-training institutions and a polytechnic college, these schools probably cannot survive without public funds. The Legislature lacks the commitment to support these important educational institutions. It is unthinkable to continue allowing them to slide into mediocrity. Mediocre educational institutions are not worth the tuition money of their students and certainly not worth tax dollars. If the Legislature is concerned about lower tuition for Oregon residents, it will have to open the public wallet to provide it. But lawmakers have been unwilling to do that for the last 15 years. They have forfeited their role as custodians of this public trust. It is time lawmakers relinquished that responsibility to others. Copyright ©2005 by Russell Sadler Russell Sadler is a journalist and a lecturer at Southern Oregon University. You may write him c/o publisher at westbynorthwest.org. Visit Sadler's Sense column's at West By Northwest.org: Sadler's Sense: The Good Ship School Finance Is Sinking Sadler's Sense: Infrastructure Renewal Needed Sadler's Sense: The Unlikely Poster Child for Measure 37 Sadler's Sense: Of Myths, Money and Machines, Why We Blame the Owl Sadler's Sense: Not Window Dressing Sadler's Sense: From Constantine to George, God's Will and Secular Power Sadler's Sense: Credibility or State of Our State Sadler's Sense: Look in the Mirror, Oregon Sadler's Sense: Why We Must Pay the Piper Now Sadler's Sense: A Short History of Measure 30 © Copyright 2000-2004 by West by Northwest.org |
