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http://www.omniture.com --> Sections Home Page Local News AP News Blogs Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Multimedia Photo Gallery Readers Photo Gallery Sports Tempo Weather Road Cams Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Distinctly Northwest Readers' Choice Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend February 24, 2007 Leaders push affordable education 'Shared responsibility' to lessen student burden By John Darling for the Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Calling declining state support for college students "an embarrassment to the state," Rep. Peter Buckley and members of the state's House and Senate education committees outlined a "shared responsibility model" that would use increased business taxes to hike the state's funding share by about a third. The bill, a major part of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's education reform package, would base the state's contribution on the amount still needed after calculating a student's contribution, parents' share and expected federal aid. Meeting in the Southern Oregon University library Friday, legislators wrestled with how to find the funding, but vowed they would never again let tuition increase faster than median family income growth. "The last 15 years, the state has disinvested in higher education," said Oregon University System Chancellor George Pernsteiner, ticking off program cuts, deferred maintenance and escalating number of student loans. "The students are paying more and getting less," he added, while Oregon has dropped from middle of the pack to 48th in the nation for state support of higher education. Oregon business leaders, including the Ore gon Business Council, are realizing it's hurting the economy to have a less educated work force burdened with "massive debt," said Buckley, so they're working with the governor, looking at drawing increased higher education funding from a hike in the corporate minimum tax. Advertisement "We've seen the impact (of declining state share) in the ability of Oregon business to attract qualified employees," Buckley said in an interview. "We have to find new revenue to do this plan and that's why it's so crucial that the business community step forward." Rep. John Dallum of Hood River, the only Republican present, said he expects that in the upcoming year, "We're not going to make great strides. We want stability first." He added that revenue for programs in the governor's budget would fall $800,000 short. Margie Lowe, education advisor on the governor's staff responded: "We have shown you how to find all the funding, just as Oregon in a serious depression (the 1930s) took the risk (to hold the line on tuition). Failing to do so means we don't work our way out of this. We've got to make a change." Lowe said Oregon must shift to adequate and stable resources and move away from "survival focus," where the needs of students are not being maintained. "You can't sustain a reasonable and strong educational system when you don't know where you're going, and without resources, we don't know where we're going," Lowe said. The state portion of the higher education budget has dropped from 26 percent only six years ago to 16 percent now, "and students have borne the brunt in higher tuition, which is now our largest source of revenue" for higher education, said Pernsteiner. "We've got some financially fragile campuses," he added, because students face "unaffordable costs" from higher-than-average tuition and lower-than-average family income. Pernsteiner branded as "the lost generation" Oregonians under 35 — and some 13,000 who couldn't afford college — who have had to enter the job market since 1990 (when Measure 5, the property tax limitation passed) with less education than their parents. "If we'd educated that generation, our record would be at the national average, though that's not good enough to compete in the international marketplace. But it's better than what we're doing now," he said. Saying SOU was "trapped in a revenue-static environment" and is a poster child for higher education's fragile financial situation, SOU President Mary Cullinan told legislators the governor's proposed spending plan wouldn't solve the school's immediate problems, but is a positive step to get stable after a painful $3.36 million deficit. SOU gets only 16 percent of its money from the state and is caught in a vicious cycle having to raise tuition because of state funding declines while losing students and that tuition income. SOU has lost 615 students since 1999. Sen. Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, chairwoman of the Senate Education and General Government Committee, sympathized, noting, "This university has suffered more than the rest and it seems worse now than ever before. It's a very depressing picture." Deferred maintenance is "huge," though understandable, because educators let it go in favor of saving student programs, said Walker, noting that the proposed shared responsibility model is "the first sign of hope that students will get what they want and need." Summing up the proposal, Pernsteiner said, "We're saying, if the student is willing to work and the family contributes and they get grants, the state will find a way for that student to go to college, for the good of our society and economy." Legislators expressed admiration as Cullinan outlined not only the program and staff cuts but a recovery strategy that includes Saturday MBA programs for working people, online accounting training for distance learners and a joint higher education center with Rogue Community College, allowing a "seamless transition" to upper-division college studies. "It's a bright light in difficult times," said Cullinan, adding that she plans to get the lost 615 students back and move upward from there. John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. Would you like to respond to this story? If so Click Here to visit our forums. Advertisement Copyright © 1997-2007 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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