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Projects

Oregon Technical and Regional Universities: Supporting Financial Viability

Summary

The Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) received a $25 million special purpose appropriation from the Oregon Legislature to realign programs and offerings at five universities. The five universities were: Eastern Oregon University, Southern Oregon University, Western Oregon University, the Oregon Institute of Technology, and Portland State University. In this report, we provided background data to inform the allocation of the appropriation. We also presented a consensus-driven approach for allocating the dollars, developed in conjunction with the HECC and the institutions, facilitated by Oregon Solutions.

Topics Challenges Resources

Topics

  • Financial sustainability
  • Regional colleges and universities

Challenges

Declining enrollment and other economic challenges have placed pressure on institutional budgets. Oregon adopted one approach to help solve these challenges: a legislative appropriation targeted to institutional transformation. To allocate the dollars, a workgroup with representation from across five public institutions developed an evidence-driven approach to assess and fund strategies proposed by each of the institutions.