Oregon lawmakers slash higher education funding - Deborah Bloom, Daily Emerald

By Oregon’s universities will face more budget cuts in the coming years after lawmakers passed a spending plan that significantly slashes state support for higher education. Legislators last week voted 43-15 to approve a $709 million budget for the next two years that cuts funding to the state’s seven public universities by 17 percent — a 5 percent decrease from the governor’s recommend budget. Included is a 22 percent decrease in money allocated for student instruction. This marks the second biennium in a row of declining state support for the Oregon University System. In 2005, state appropriations comprised 36 percent of the University of Oregon’s budget. Today, state support makes up just 7 percent of the University’s budget.