UO funding treads water, lobbyist says.

Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

If your employer promised a 14 percent raise over the next two years, you'd think you'd be in fat city, right? And you'd think of all the things you could do with that money.

But what if you realize that your bills are increasing so fast that they will gobble up all but a couple of bucks of the increase?

That's the position the University of Oregon says it's in - even after Gov. John Kitzhaber pledged to spend 14 percent more on higher education over the next two years.

"It's not going to represent new dollars or new services to students," UO state lobbyist Hans Bernard told the UO Board of Trustees Friday. "It really just keeps us where we are at now."

The trustees were meeting for the third day at the Ford Alumni Center on the UO campus. Their next scheduled gathering is in March.

The 14 percent increase the governor proposed would mean about $68 million more spread across Oregon's seven public universities - for two years.

But then take out a $22 million chunk to cover the ever-growing cost of retirement plans.

"We have gotten new (Public Employees Retirement System) figures and the estimates increased dramatically, and for the University of Oregon ... it looks like it's a 9 to 10 percent increase," UO Chief Financial Officer Jamie Moffitt told the board.

Then take another big bite, $21 million, which will be needed to cover the cost of a "tuition buy down" that the Legislature intends for Oregon students to receive in the coming two years.

Add up all the increases, and, "you're looking at a maximum high water mark of between $5 million to $6 million in new unallocated monies (state) wide," Bernard said. "We really are sitting at flat funding."

The UO and other state universities hope to claim more state funds before the budget tussles in Legislature's 2015 session are through.

The governor proposed a $626 million two-year budget for higher education earlier this week, up from $561 million in the last two years.

The figure includes $62 million for tuition, which is a good thing, Moffitt said. "If we hadn't received it, we would have had to increase tuition dramatically."

Over the last seven years, average tuition and fees at the state's universities increased 41 percent. The UO will unveil its 2015-2016 school year tuition and fee proposal in March.

If the economy continues to perk up - and tax revenues rise - higher education may be able to finagle more out of the state.

UO President Scott Coltrane and Bernard met last week with the legislative leadership.

The legislators suggested a good target would be to return the higher education budget to pre-recession levels of $755 million, or up 35 percent from the previous two years, Bernard said.

The governor, meanwhile, forwarded to the Legislature all four capital construction projects - worth $62 million - the UO proposed.

Follow Diane on Twitter @diane_dietz. Email [email protected].

Construction zone

The UO is asking the Legislature for $62 million in state-backed bonds to launch these construction projects:

New Architecture and Allied Arts building: $26.62 million. Project would begin in summer 2016.

New College and Careers Building: $17 million. Project would begin in summer 2016.

Renovate Klamath Hall: $12.25 million. Project would begin summer 2016.

Renovate Chapman Hall: $6.5 million. Project would start June 2015.

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Title Annotation:	University Of Oregon; Despite a proposal to spend more, higher costs may eat up any gains
Publication:	The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
Date:	Dec 13, 2014
Words:	566
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