Oregon
Oregon lags most states in public higher education funding, report finds • Oregon Capital Chronicle
The Oregon Legislature continues to spend far less on higher education than other states, according to a new report, leading to some of the highest costs of attendance among universities in the West.
Oregon is ranked 44th in the nation for public funding of higher education and 37th in the nation for per-pupil funding, according to the latest annual State Higher Education Finance report from the Colorado-based State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission is a member of the association.
The report compared state-by-state funding data from the 2022-23 fiscal year. While higher education investment in Oregon has increased in recent years, it has not been enough to make up for more than a decade of underfunding and of relying heavily on student tuition to cover rising costs, said Ben Cannon, executive director of the commission.
Cannon and university presidents have repeatedly asked the Legislature for more higher education dollars and a model of funding that balances state investment with tuition revenue.
“We are continuing to rely on students to balance our budgets,” Cannon said in testimony to a legislative ways and means subcommittee last year.
Unreliable revenue source
Enrollment declines across Oregon’s seven public universities and 17 community colleges over the last five to 10 years have been more than twice the national average, the report found, making tuition an unreliable source of funding.
“Over the next 10 years, or whatever portion of that 10 years I’m around for, I will hope to partner with the Legislature to restore the ‘public’ in our public system of higher education,” Cannon told the members of the subcommittee.
Per-pupil investment in Oregon’s public higher education system was more than $2,500 less than the national average last year, according to the higher education finance report. In Oregon during the 2022-23 school year, the state invested about $8,400 per full-time enrolled student each year. The national average that year was more than $11,000 per student. State investments in financial aid for middle and low-income students have increased in the last decade, but still fall behind national averages. Washington invests twice as much funding in scholarships for such students compared to Oregon.
“You have a situation in Oregon right now, where the vast majority of Oregon’s public university presidents are from outside of the state and we’re shocked,” said Eastern Oregon University President Kelly Ryan, who took over in 2023. “We’re shocked at what we found. And we’re also in wonderment about how we’re supposed to get our work done in such a drastically underfunded environment.”
Ryan had to cut 8.4% of the university’s budget for the 2023-24 school year – about $5 million.
“They (the Legislature) acknowledge we’re really important to building a tax base, building a workforce, but it’s hard for us to stay front and center,” she said.
Decade of disinvestment
Oregon’s higher education funding model has relied since the 2008 recession more heavily than many other states’ on raising tuition to cover rising operating costs, with funding since then cut in half.
“A whole lot of students took on a whole lot of debt in order to help the state keep its Corrections (Department), Human Services (Department) and K-12 systems afloat during the worst recession anyone had seen in their living memories,” Cannon told the Legislature.
Oregon’s public universities and colleges now derive 32% more of their revenue from tuition than most public higher education institutions in the country, the report found. Between 2013 and 2023, revenue growth from student tuition in Oregon increased 23%. The national average for tuition revenue growth was 1.5% during the same period.
Every one of Oregon’s seven public universities is increasing tuition in the upcoming school year, and has done so just about every year for the past 10 years. Average tuition at those schools today is about 26% higher than it was a decade ago. The rising costs of housing around Oregon’s universities have also driven up costs and affordability concerns, Cannon said.
“A state that invests relatively little is going to have institutions that are likely going to have relatively high tuition, and that’s absolutely what this report illustrates,” he told the Capital Chronicle.
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The Oregon Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Lane County man who once photographed child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey and was convicted in 2021 on several child pornography charges.
Randall DeWitt Simons, 73, of Oakridge, was charged in 2019 with 15 counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse. He was later convicted on every count and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Simons was first arrested after authorities began investigating a report from a restaurant in Oakridge that someone had been using the restaurant’s Wi-Fi to download inappropriate and concerning images.
Law enforcement officers directed the business to track, log, and report all of the user’s internet activity to the investigating officer for more than a year, without a warrant.
Police tracked the computer’s IP address from the restaurant’s Wi-Fi system, which led officers to a man who lived near the restaurant and had given Simons a computer, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lane County Circuit Court. Investigators obtained a warrant to search the laptop in Simon’s home, relying on information they had collected over time. He was subsequently arrested.
On March 26, the court ruled warrantless internet surveillance on public Wi-Fi violates privacy.
In an opinion written by Justice Bronson D. James, the court held that the Oregon Constitution recognizes people have a right to privacy in their internet browsing activities and the right is not extinguished when they use a publicly accessible wireless network. It’s even true in cases where that access is conditioned on a person accepting a terms-of-service agreement that says a provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement, James wrote.
During criminal proceedings in the Lane County Circuit Court, Simons moved to controvert the warrant and suppress the evidence obtained by police, arguing the business was a “state actor for purposes of Article I, section 9, and that its year-long warrantless surveillance was an unconstitutional, warrantless search attributable to the state,” the Supreme Court opinion said.
The Circuit Court denied Simon’s motion. The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision in part and stated Simons had no cognizable privacy interest in his internet activities performed on a third-party network.
The Oregon Supreme Court rejected the state’s argument.
“The mere fact that a person accesses the internet through a public network does not eliminate their Article I, section 9, right to privacy in their online activities,” according to James. “Even when access is expressly conditioned on a user’s acceptance of terms-of-service provisions purporting to alert the user that the provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement.”
Justice K. Bushong suggested in a partial dissent the Court should reconsider its approach in a future case to what constitutes a “search” under the Oregon Constitution. The court’s decision reverses the Court of Appeals and sends the case back to the Lane County Circuit Court for further proceedings.
Simons has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 2019.
Simons had been a photographer for 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey a few months before her still-unsolved 1996 murder, the Associated Press reported in 1998.
In October 1998, Simons was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure in Lincoln County, Colorado. According to the book “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town” by Lawrence Schiller, Simons was arrested in 1998 for allegedly walking nude down a residential street in the small town of Genoa, Colorado. Simons allegedly offered to the arresting deputy unprovoked, “I didn’t kill JonBenét.”
Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.
Umatilla, Morrow counties establish Young Republicans of Oregon chapter
Published 8:00 pm Wednesday, March 25, 2026
IRRIGON — Young Republicans living in Umatilla and Morrow counties now can join a local chapter of the statewide Young Republicans of Oregon organization.
The Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will advance Republican values and leadership in young residents through political training, networking opportunities and connection to Republican leaders. The group is focused on young adults, generally attracting college-aged people, though it includes people aged 18 to 40.
The five Young Republicans of Oregon members living in Umatilla and Morrow counties elected three officers to lead their new chapter. Irrigon’s Evan Purves was elected chair, with Connor Roberts of Hermiston as his vice chair and Kaelyn Moore of Milton-Freewater serving as secretary.
“I am super grateful for this opportunity to lead my neighbors,” Purves said. “It’s going to be really fun. We have some good events planned.”
Purves, 19, is a student at Blue Mountain Community College who eventually hopes to pursue a four-year degree in public administration. He initially became interested in the Young Republicans during an internship with Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith, of Heppner. He said it was an experience that showed him how the legislature works.
The internship also inspired him to step into a leadership role with the Young Republicans and help establish a local chapter of the organization. The newest chapter of the Young Republicans of Oregon, which was announced Monday, March 23, has been in the works since November 2025.
The Young Republicans of Oregon State Chair, Tanner Elliott, said the new chapter — the fourth chapter statewide — indicates momentum for conservative values.
“In less than a year, we’ve continued expanding because young conservatives are stepping up and getting involved in their communities,” Elliott said. “I want to congratulate the chapter’s leadership team on their election and especially commend their new chair Evan Purves for taking on this role. I’m confident this group will make a meaningful impact in Eastern Oregon and help drive our organization forward.”
Future plans in Umatilla, Morrow counties
The leadership team of UMYR already is making efforts to effect change.
In early May, Purves said, Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will host a door knocking campaign in support of Smith’s reelection campaign. There also will be an official kickoff event the same weekend celebrating the new chapter and outlining priorities for the future.
“If there’s anything that we might struggle with is membership,” he said. “The recruiting part is us going out there and hosting events and socials, having opportunities for people to come out and do something fun that anybody’s invited to.”
Regarding other priorities, voter engagement is important to Purves,
“Even though we live in a big conservative area, there’s not a lot of politically engaged people, especially in my generation,” he said. “We want to get them involved.”
He said one of his concerns is businesses leaving the state due to policies that aren’t friendly to corporations, a common issue raised by Republican lawmakers. The decisions being made impact every community, he said, and he wants to have a say in what the leaders are doing.
“These bills affect all of us,” he said. “It’s just important to get people involved and get people to vote and be a part of it.”
People interested in updates on the efforts of the Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans can follow the group on Facebook or Instagram or become a member at yro.gop.
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