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HIGHER EDUCATION New SOU board hikes tuition 5 percent Comment By John Darling for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 1, 2015 at 12:01 AM By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 1, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News The newly minted Southern Oregon University Board of Trustees has endorsed a tuition hike of almost 5 percent for next school year.  Starting in the fall, resident undergraduates will pay $147 per credit, or $2,205 per term for a 15-credit load. Steady tuition increases over the last five years mean students will be paying 25 percent more than they did in 2010, when each credit cost $117. Friday's vote won't take effect until July 1, when the self-governing body takes over power from the State Board of Higher Education, which will dissolve after 83 years. The state board is expected to approve the tuition hike at its last meeting in June. The SOU board includes community leaders such as former Congressman Les AuCoin, former Oregon Shakespeare Festival Executive Director Paul Nicholson, Phoenix-Talent schools Superintendent Teresa Sayre, former Ashland City Councilor Dennis Slattery, Medford Fabrication owner Bill Thorndike, philanthropists April Sevcik and Judy Shih, and Lyn Hennion, senior vice president of Umpqua Investments. The tuition increase was recommended by a commission of SOU students, faculty and staff. Shih, co-president of the American Association of University Women of Ashland, voted against the increase. During Friday's lengthy meeting, board members were told SOU had met its targets in a retrenchment process that caused sweeping cuts in faculty, classes and majors to save $6 million a year. Targets included cost savings, increased enrollment, improved retention rates, faculty cuts, elimination of classes with few students, increase in class sizes and building a minimum 5 percent fund balance. The fall 2014 enrollment target was 4,262, but actual enrollment was 4,356 full-time equivalents, 2.2 percent over the target. Chris Stanek, director of institutional research, called SOU's retention of students “phenomenal, the best in 10 or 15 years.” Retention of new first-time, full-time freshmen (those who've never been to college before), which had been hovering at 66 to 68 percent, reached 74 percent from fall 2013 to fall 2014, according to a university report. When taking into account all first-time, full-time freshmen, the retention rate hit 78 percent. SOU is the second-most affordable of the state's seven public universities. The most affordable is Eastern Oregon University, at $134 per credit this year, and the most expensive is Oregon State University at $189. “It boggles the mind why students pay $1,000 more a term at Oregon State University to sit in a class of 300, led by a teaching assistant," Thorndike said. Craig Morris, SOU vice president of finance and administration, presented the board with various scenarios of how state funding might be allocated to universities next biennium, from one that treats all schools about the same to one based on outcomes such as the types of degrees earned and types of students enrolled. How it all shakes out will depend on the Legislature's final budget and the powerful Higher Education Coordinating Commission, which helps decide how the money is allocated. After listening to the potential inequities of funding among state universities, SOU President Roy Saigo commented, “We can’t lay down and say ‘give us what you will,' like good soldiers. We need to put on constant pressure ... water should raise all the boats or it’s not good administration.”  Reach Ashland freelance writer John Darling at [email protected]. By John Darling for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 1, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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