“Financial uncertainty” could be the phrase of the year for colleges and universities across the country, including in Oregon. Many of the state’s 24 public higher education institutions are entering the upcoming school year with dire financial outlooks.
For cash-strapped Southern Oregon University in Ashland, there are no easy answers. SOU announced earlier this month a plan to reduce its annual budget by 15% over the next three years to a target of $60 million. In the proposal, more than a dozen degree programs would be nixed and 20 jobs eliminated.
“There’s not going to be a winner coming out of this,” SOU Provost Casey Shillam said at a meeting of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission on Aug. 14. “But when we get to the end of this work, our university is still going to be here. We are going to be stronger and we are going to be able to continue meeting the needs of our community.”
Read more at OPB.
