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http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/legislatures_emergency_board_g.html

Graduates line up last week during the 125th commencement at Franklin High School

SALEM – The Legislature's Emergency Board this afternoon approved a request from Oregon universities to spend an additional $65 million through the next year to offset state cuts, hire more professors, expand research and make room for an additional 4,700 students.

The universities will tap tuition reserves to come up with most of the $65 million. With an additional 2,900 students this year. an additional 1,800 expected next year and a recent 6.2 percent tuition increase, the Oregon University System expects to raise $100 million more than it had budgeted for the biennium. It's also has seen dramatic increases in research grants, a portion of which can be used for administrative needs and expansion.

But to spend above what they've budgeted, universities must get permission from the Emergency Board, which cannot raise new money but can approve spending changes and adjustments.

Without hiring additional faculty and staff, the universities, already struggling with larger class sizes, would have to consider capping enrollment and turning qualified students away, officials say.

"The Legislature has finally agreed that we need to spend money to make money," said Jay Kenton, the Oregon University System's vice chancellor for finance and administration. "We have all of these students; if we don't serve them well, they will leave or drop out. We need to offer quality programs."

The university system will use some of the $65 million along with some internal spending shifts to replace a loss of about $27 million this biennium in state funding. Gov. Ted Kulongoski ordered all state agencies to prepare for 9 percent cuts in their budgets next year because of a recently revealed $577 million deficit in revenue.

Many state agencies are preparing to cut staff and programs, but state universities can use tuition to offset the loss, in effect reducing the state deficit to $546 million.

The universities also agreed to soften state cuts to the Oregon Student Assistance Commission, which oversees need-based student scholarships called Opportunity Grants. The universities will replace cuts in grants to their students by providing about $4.2 million in fee remissions, which are cuts in tuition.