Letter to the Editor

[forestgreen]

The truth, whining or a little of both?

Reallocate college money

http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2009/09/letters_to_the_editor_14.html

You say "The state can't build the strong public support that's needed to win higher education a larger share of tax dollars" ("Higher ed: You say you want a revolution," Editorials, Sept. 1). Perhaps public support for higher education is lacking because most of the resources go to universities in Eugene and Corvallis that are located far away and are inaccessible to the majority of tax-paying citizens. The lion's share of resources go to the University of Oregon and Oregon State University while Portland State University, "Oregon's largest university," has always been starved for funds.

We have a growing population in Portland of people in their 20s and 30s who are moving here from all over the country. They want to go to graduate school, but most graduate schools are far away. It is impossible to go to many graduate programs at night here in Portland because of protected fiefdoms in Eugene and Corvallis. To gain taxpayer support higher ed needs to provide graduate programs where they are needed.

I personally suffered a barrier to getting an M.A. in Spanish here in Portland because for many years that program was only available in Eugene. As a working mother I could not move to Eugene to attend graduate school.

LINDA GRETSCH
Northwest Portland

 

[pdxfan]

It's the truth. UO/OSU have gotten the lion's share over the years, though that's slowly - very slowly - changing. And yes, a "non-duplication" policy has prevented PSU from offering grad programs needed in the Portland metropolitan area (journalism, architecture, but also other traditional fields like Spanish) But that too is changing - slowly, very slowly. OUS continues to assume that because grad programs are available at UO/OSU they're available to the whole state, which is patently not true. In a free enterprise system it's a no-brainer to put your money where your market is. It doesn't work that way with OUS.

That being said, I admit OUS has very little money to cover a very big territory.

 

[ManOfVision]

That commentary is right on, as are the other posters who've commented on duplication. I would go a step farther and say that OUS tries too hard to be all things to all people. For a state our size, we don't need so many public colleges. I vote for closing WOU and sharing all its resources between PSU and OSU, and to a lesser extent, UO. Monmouth is not so far from Portland or Corvallis that people can't attend PSU or OSU if they really need an education from the Monmouth/Salem area. We should also go back to a more tiered system, whereby the three big schools are universities and the the rest are colleges. As measured by student body and degree offerings, the regional schools have nothing in common with the big three. Pretending all the schools are equal is silly.

 

[forestgreen]

It continues!

Some universities lose more than others in distribution plan

The distribution plan takes $1.1 million from Portland State, $430,000 from Oregon State and $1.8 million from the University of Oregon and gives $1.4 million more to Eastern, $1.3 million more to Western Oregon University, $600,000 more to Southern Oregon University and $100,000 more to Oregon Institute of Technology

The full higher education board will vote on the plan next month.

Portland State will try to make up for its loss in state funding by raising tuition, cutting salaries for faculty and staff and trimming other expenses, said President Wim Wiewel.

"Everyone has to share in the sacrifice," said the president, who already has cut his and other administrators' salaries by 4.6 percent.

Portland State has suffered more than most other universities, he said, because it has grown faster, outpacing state support. But he remains optimistic about Portland State's future, he said.

"I'd rather have a lot of customers, a lot of people clamoring for my services," he said.

For the full article go to this link:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/some_universities_lose_more_th.html

 

[pdxfan]

Wievel's right; our growth outpaced our funding. Long after our need for electical/computer engineering was obvious OSU was insisting that they could handle all of it, and the Board listened to them. Eventually, the Board came around with funding, but the funding hasn't caught up. Bioengineering is the same. And don't get me started on UO's insistence on a monopoly on history doctorates.

I'm not sure about dropping Monmouth. The political fallout would be major hassle. We really do have a de facto three tier system - university, college, and community college - and I agree that we should just go ahead and recognize it. Universities with grad programs do cost more. Colleges (we have three of them nicely spaced around the state) are needed for kids and adults that need a smaller environment with BAs and maybe mainline MAs. Community colleges are needed for terminal and feeder programs to the four year plus schools. They have diminishing funding needs, so fund them that way. Back thirty years ago it became fashionable to re-label colleges as universities; Eastern, Western, and Southern jumped in with new lables overnight. They didn't become universities overnight, and probably won't ever. But they're still splendid colleges, doing just what they're supposed to.