EUEGEN,Ore. — The cost of education at the University of Oregon keeps rising.
The UO Board of Trustees on Friday voted 13-0 to approve a 2.84 percent tuition increase, which board members said was needed to pay for the growing costs of running the university.
“If we don’t do this, the challenges are even larger,” trustee Ross Kari said before the vote.
With the increase, annual tuition for a full-time resident student will reach $9,765 next school year. Also, the board approved a 2.49 percent tuition increase for out-of-state students, driving the annual cost to $33,345.
Students also must pay another $3,000 or so in annual fees that fund student government, the student recreation center and help pay for computers.
Students who attended the trustees meeting voiced frustration about the latest increase, the latest in series of recent tuition hikes.
“(The) administration did not do enough to include students or give us full information,” said Imani Dorsey, a member of the UO tuition and fee advisory committee.
Composed of faculty, staff members and students, the committee last month recommended the tuition increase and changes to tuition for the business school and honors college.
UO President Michael Schill said that some of the money raised in the higher tuition will go to help lower-income students through grants and other programs. “I know that any tuition increase can be a challenge to some students,” he said.
The tuition increases will pay for growing university costs, UO officials said. The UO’s education and general expense fund, which pays for most academic and administrative functions, will rise $16.7 million in the next fiscal year.
Last year, the UO considered a 10.6 percent tuition increase for in-state students before settling on a 6.6 percent increase after the Oregon Legislature gave more money than expected to higher education in the state.
Separately, the board of trustees approved a $20-per-class-credit hike for undergraduate business courses.
Counselors and a professor from the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business told the trustees that the added charge for attending business classes will support more career advising and other student support programs.
“We have to have similar resources to do that,” marketing department head T. Bettina Cornwell said.
Also, the trustees reduced the amount of extra tuition charged to honors college students. Honor college students have smaller class sizes, priority course registration and other benefits.
With the reduced tuition in the next school year, it will cost a student $2,700 above the cost of regular tuition to be part of the honors college. This school year, students must pay an extra $4,194 to be part of the college.
