By: Jade Rayner
News Editor
In an email sent to Western faculty and staff on April 4, President Rex Fuller laid out upcoming changes and work going into the 2017-2019 biennial budget.
According to the message, Oregon’s seven public universities sent the Higher Education Coordinating Commission multiple scenarios regarding possible budgets.
The HECC is a 14 member volunteer commission responsible for advising the governor, Oregon legislation and the chief education office on higher education policy, as stated on oregon.gov. Some of the HECC’s duties include, “… the development of biennial budget recommendations for public postsecondary education in Oregon,” as well as, “… making funding allocations to Oregon’s public community colleges and public universities.”
President Fuller’s email relayed that the most optimistic budget scenario presented to the HECC, “… provided about $940 million for the four-year campuses -an increase of about $275 million over the 2015-17 budget. This budget represented the true increase in cost and increase of 20% for universities.” The scenario was then sent to the governor as part of the HECC request.
Fuller stated that, “The universities decided to convey this aspirational budget scenario to the HECC, in part, because of the possibility that the corporate gross receipts—Measure 97—would pass in November 2016. As we know, Measure 97 failed in the 2016 election.”
Had Measure 97 been passed, it would have increased the corporate minimum tax for corporations with at least $25 million in Oregon sales, as explained on ballotpedia.org. The goal of the measure was to use the increased revenue to fund education, healthcare and senior services.
Fuller’s email goes on to say that, “… the Governor’s recommended budget (GRB) set $667 million for the Public University Support Fund (PUSF), which is about $115 million below the amount needed to cover increased costs … the GRB also did not fund the Sports Lottery that is used by Western to support graduate student scholarships and student athletes.”
Because of this, Fuller explained, “It is likely that Western, like all public universities, will be facing a shortfall in PUSF funds. This will require each campus to consider a combination of tuition increases, use of reserves, and budget cuts.”
In January 2017, the Board of Trustees was presented a budget that assumed a 10 percent increase in tuition and enrollment; Western now has a clearer idea of what the admissions and expected enrollment for fall 2017 will be.
On March 1, Western’s first-time first-year student enrollment was 20 percent lower compared to last year at the same time. Overall, it’s estimated that the number of new first-year students from Oregon will be lower. Because of this, the modeled budget will reflect a 10 percent increase to tuition and a five percent decrease in enrollment, leading to an assumed deficit of around $3 million per year, as laid out in Fuller’s email.
Though work will continue to be done in an attempt to increase higher education PUSF funding, budget cuts are being planned out.
“The cuts will need to be conceived in light of the newly approved Strategic Plan and will not reduce our ability to enroll students in classes they need to graduate,” wrote Fuller. “However, greater care in matching our course scheduling to account for fewer students and changing student demand will, in all likelihood, lead to fewer sections of some courses and some reductions in the number and/or variety of some course electives.”
Currently, budget plans are not set, and need to be reviewed. Once plans are reviewed, the budget proposals will be shared with the University Budget Committee. The recommendations from the committee will then be considered in the development of the final 2017-2019 budget which will be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval.
Fuller concluded his message to Western staff and faculty stating that, “In this environment of decreasing resources, we must begin planning for these expected budget shortfalls … by utilizing our Strategic Plan and the process I have outlined, I am confident that Western will make budget decisions that support our effort to achieve our mission and strategic initiatives that are described in our Strategic Plan.”
Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu
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