During a busy two days, the Board of Trustees for the University of Oregon approved tuition for the cohort of undergraduate students beginning their UO education in the 2025-26 academic year. They also voted on four resolutions and heard a report on the effects of federal funding on the university.
On the second day of the meeting, Jamie Moffitt, chief financial officer and co-chair of the Tuition and Fee Advisory Board, presented the 2025-26 academic year recommendations for undergraduate and graduate tuition rates to the board. UO President Karl Scholz reviewed the recommendations and sent a letter to the trustees after listening to direct feedback from students and other stakeholders who took part in a public forum, soliciting feedback through an online survey, and discussing tuition issues with a wide variety of stakeholders.
The trustees unanimously approved the recommendations to increase in-state tuition by 3.75 percent, which will be locked at $13,905.90 per year for new resident undergraduates for five cohort years as part of the Oregon Guarantee Tuition Program. The trustees approved an increase of 3.25 percent for out-of-state tuition to $43,226.10 per year. An increase of 3.98 percent to undergraduate mandatory fees was also approved. For more information on the changes, read the president’s letter to the board of trustees on the president’s website.
On Day 1 of the meeting, the Finance and Facilities Committee advanced three capital projects and a corresponding bond authorization request to fund the projects to the full board. During the full session, the board approved the following projects:
- Friendly Hall deferred maintenance. The request for approval of $82.5 million in deferred maintenance will include systems and seismic upgrades to the fourth-oldest building on campus. The project—set at $72 million—would come from already approved state funding with a target completion date of winter 2027.
- Oregon Acoustic Research Laboratory. The university received a grant in March 2022 for $18.75 million to construct a facility at the Port of Portland to perform acoustic testing on new construction assemblies on new products like cross-laminate timber. The full budget is $25.88 million and will be done in spring 2027.
- Next-generation housing. The board approved a request to move forward with phase one of a two-phase construction project that would increase student housing with potential options to update other facilities at a later date. Phase one would include a new residence hall on the east side of campus near Kalapuya Ilihi that would have 870 beds geared toward first- and second-year students. The second phase would be a 667-bed residence hall geared primarily for second-year and above students. The budgets would be $160 million and $117 million respectively.
University leadership also presented the current state of federal funding to the trustees on Day 1. Board Chair Steve Holwerda said that despite the challenges and potential threats to freeze or cut funding from federal organizations, the university should find the opportunity to continue advancing its mission.
“We as trustees have to make good, thoughtful, sustainable decisions on our finances,” Holwerda said. “We also need to make sure we’re covered if there are cuts to federal funding so that five years from now, 10 years from now, we improve our station.”
During his report on Day 2, President Scholz echoed this sentiment.
“We are on top of what’s going on,” Scholz said. “At the same time, the confluence of challenges we are now navigating are unlike any I have seen in my 30-plus years in higher education.
“It will take all members of the UO community, students, staff, faculty, trustees, alumni and others who care about the university pulling together to help us meet this moment.”
The president also updated the trustees on other challenges facing the university, including union negotiations and enrollment uncertainty. He spoke about progress on the UO’s strategic plan, Oregon Rising. You can read a full set of his remarks on the president’s website.
Holwerda also acknowledged employee bargaining and the importance of faculty contributions to the university.
“If we don’t have faculty, we can’t operate,” Holwerda said. “The challenge is that if we don’t have students, we can’t operate either. We thank you for all the work faculty are doing and for all the work the administration is doing. The strike is in nobody’s interests.”
Two executive sessions were held to discuss data center security assessment findings and collective bargaining.
The board also attended an event at the Lundquist College of Business and heard a presentation from Dean Bruce Blonigen.
During the reports section of the two-day meeting, the board listened to public comment and reports from the Officers of Administration Council, UO Student Workers and United Academics. Provost Chris Long, Associated Students of the University of Oregon President Mariam Hassan and University Senate President Alison Schmitke all gave reports.
The agenda, materials and recordings of the meeting are available on the board website.
—Ben Schorzman, University Communications