{"id":1272,"date":"2015-05-10T09:33:46","date_gmt":"2015-05-10T17:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=1272"},"modified":"2015-05-10T09:34:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-10T17:34:20","slug":"incoming-first-year-students-see-tuition-rates-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/incoming-first-year-students-see-tuition-rates-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoming first-year students see tuition rates rise"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Jack Armstrong\r\n News Editor<\/pre>\n
Western is expected to experience another rise in tuition for the incoming students of the 2015-2016 academic year, beginning Fall term 2015.<\/p>\n
According to the faculty senate minutes, incoming first-year students can expect to see a rise of around 2 percent for the total cost of tuition for the typical school year.<\/p>\n
This increase would see entering students with Oregon residency paying $1,976 in tuition and fees for a 12-credit, full time enrollment.<\/p>\n
Currently enrolled students with the WOU Promise program will not experience a rise in tuition, and will continue to pay their existing level of tuition.<\/p>\n
This increase, while not insignificant, it is about half of what other students at many other universities in Oregon can expect to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cTuition increases are the lowest at WOU out of all the Oregon public four year institutions,\u201d
\nWestern president Mark Weiss said. \u201c2 percent for next year compared to an average of 5 percent for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the lower than expected tuition increase comes from a higher than expected amount of funding granted by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.<\/p>\n
According to their website, the HECC is a 14 member volunteer board who is responsible for \u201cadvising the Legislature, the Governor, and the Oregon Education Investment Board on higher education policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two pieces of information used by the HECC in making funding decisions,\u201d Eric Yahnke, Western\u2019s vice president of finance and administration, said. \u201cThe first factor is enrollment level and student credit load while enrolled, and the second is a the graduation rate of students with a degree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect that Western will receive a higher amount of state funding under the new outcomes-based formula based on information provided by the HECC,\u201d Weiss said. The increase in funding is said to be around 20 percent compared to previous years.<\/p>\n
Western\u2019s administration has also been working as a unit to reduce the costs across the university in an attempt to curtail rapidly rising tuition costs. President Weiss made it a focus of his time at Western.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is imperative that we lower the relative cost of attending a university for Oregonians,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cI believe that affordability and student debt load are among the highest priorities that we must address in providing a college degree.<\/p>\n
Students also play a vital role in keeping costs down. Western students are particularly active in voicing their opinion at the legislative sessions in Salem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that Western Oregon students are the most active in the legislature when the tuition rates are up for debate,\u201d Yahnke said. \u201cDuring the most recent presentation to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, we had by far the most students in attendance representing their cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
This task is certainly easier said than done. Oregon has seen a decade of steady divestment in higher education, which coupled with a rapidly rising enrollment rate contributed to an overall increase in tuition costs for incoming students.<\/p>\n
Slightly lower enrollment can also have a temporary effect on Western\u2019s tuition prices. According to the faculty senate, \u201cenrollment has declined this year about 4 percent overall.\u201d
\n\u201cEnrollment can have an effect on fixed costs and the current services offered by the university,\u201d Yahnke said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigher enrollment keeps current faculty engaged, and we have an administrative staff that is set up to deal with a certain number of full time students,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
This dip in enrollment is expected to reverse moving into the 2015 academic year with \u201ca potential 10 percent rise in enrollment with the 2015 entering class.\u201d<\/p>\n
Western\u2019s new independent university board could also have an effect on future rates of tuition.<\/p>\n
With the Oregon University System no longer retaining voting control over Western\u2019s budgetary future, the costs facing the entering class of 2016 will be decided by the new board and incoming president Rex Fuller.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe WOU institutional board will approve or modify the administration\u2019s recommendation,\u201d Weiss said. Western students are also asked to participate in the discussion when it is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cA student tuition fee committee is apprised of the university budget and is offered the opportunity to voice their opinion on the recommendation,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n
Looking at a smaller increase than usual has left Weiss feeling like Western\u2019s efforts to provide the best education at the lowest price possible has been a success.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur students get a top notch education from faculty and staff dedicated to their success,\u201d said Weiss.<\/p>\n
Even at a lower price than expected, higher education does come with its pitfalls.<\/p>\n
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the national average of debt for students upon graduation with an undergraduate degree hovers around $29,856. This is the highest it has ever been, even accounting for the effects of inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI encourage all students to receive the necessary advising assistance to graduate in a timely manner and avoid the cost of extra years to degree completion,\u201d Weiss said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cLastly, I encourage students to take responsibility for themselves to appropriately manage their debt load, and make certain they graduate with a degree to launch their futures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oregon average 3 percent higher than Western.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}