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SOU tuition hike approved By JIM REECE ASHLAND - Southern Oregon University is among the seven state universities recommending tuition increases over the next two years, but one of only two that will not pass on higher energy costs to students. For the first time in five years, the state Board of Higher Education on Friday approved a tuition hike for all seven higher education institutions. The increase varies from school to school, but many students will see costs jump by more than 9 percent when tuition and fee increases are included. SOU had requested a 4 percent tuition increase for 2001-02 and a 3 percent increase for the following year, as recommended by the state Legislature, said Ron Bolstad, SOU vice president of administration and finance. If approved, based on a three-term school year excluding summer sessions, full-time SOU students would pay about $100 more this year for undergraduate studies and an additional $189 for graduate studies. Nonresidents would pay $378 and $354 more, respectively. SOU's current tuition for a resident student not attending summer school is $2,520. Fees for various services the school provides add $849, according to information available on SOU's Web site. Resident undergraduates at Oregon State University and Western Oregon University will see the biggest increase, with bills growing $333 and $318, respectively. University officials may have to ask for a higher boost than 3 percent in the second year if costs grow faster than expected, Bolstad said. A higher increase would first have to be approved by the Legislature. For 2001-02, SOU projects 4,645 full-time equivalent (FTE) attendance, including the summer session. FTEs represent the number of full class loads taken by full-time and part-time students. At that rate, enrollment would be 2.5 percent higher than in 2000-01. Bolstad said university officials hope a tuition hike will not affect enrollment. "Our hope is that it will not, for a couple of reasons," Bolstad said. "Tuition, but not fees, have been frozen for four years. This is the first increase in tuition since the '95-'97 biennium." He said the increase would be "slightly in excess of annual inflations," and that SOU has tried to hold tuition and fees as low as possible. Some schools will tack on a new energy surcharge to help pay for rising energy costs. The fee will be $30 per term at Eastern Oregon University, the University of Oregon, OSU and WOU. The Oregon Institute of Technology will assess a fee of $10 per term. Portland State University and SOU are the only two schools that will not impose a surcharge. He said utility costs for the past academic year were 50 percent higher than expected, but university officials believe students should not be asked to absorb higher energy costs. Bolstad said SOU would keep expected energy rate increases within its operating budget. Dean Murdoch, a Central Point criminology major with two terms left before he earns a degree, said the increase won't bother him much. "I really don't think that that would affect me," Murdoch said. "I like this campus and I like the teachers and the courses. "Judging by what I've seen on campus and the teachers, I would say that that's not too much." But Christi Coker, an Ashland English major with a year of study left, said the rate increases may be enough to send her to another state for post-graduate studies. "I've heard about the possibility and I don't like it," Coker said. "I get financial aid, but that's just more financial aid I'll have to get." She said California and Washington schools are looking more attractive to her than Oregon colleges, while a South Carolina college costs less, even with out-of-state tuition rates. "If they continue to increase it, they will lose so many in-state students," Coker said, adding that she worries about potential increases in book costs and fees. "I'm just afraid that it will cause a chain reaction and everything will go up, and school is already expensive enough as it is." "If it continues to increase, I may not stay here for the master's program," she said, and rather opt for a more expensive program with a "bigger name." Jim Reece is a free-lance writer living in Ashland. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.