Southern Oregon University will receive the remaining $7.5 million in a state funding package intended to help the Ashland university survive its financial crisis.
Oregon's Emergency Board voted unanimously Thursday to release the money, although several lawmakers raised concerns about the financial challenges facing the state's broader public university system.
The allocation is the second half of a $15 million package approved by the Legislature this year. The money is being distributed through the state's Higher Education Coordinating Commission.
It is intended to help SOU remain financially stable through the 2026-27 fiscal year while the university carries out sweeping budget cuts.
The Emergency Board, made up of state lawmakers, approves certain spending and budget adjustments when the Legislature is not in session.
But at Thursday's meeting, Rep. Ricki Ruiz, D-Gresham, questioned the precedent it could set for other colleges and universities facing financial difficulties.
"I don't want to see other regionals or public universities or community colleges come back and ask us for this," he said. "One of my hesitations from the beginning was, if we do this for SOU, are we going to do this for everybody else?"
Other institutions, including Portland State University and Oregon State University, are also struggling with budget shortfalls.
Rep. Gregory Smith, R-Heppner, also expressed concerns about a broader problem across the state.
"My level of confidence that we will not be addressing this in the future is zero," he said. "I'm of the view that a special committee ought to be coordinated to look at higher education in the state of Oregon."
Under House Bill 4124, state education officials are already evaluating Oregon's public colleges and universities to plan for the future viability of the higher education system. The Higher Education Coordinating Commission is expected to discuss a preliminary report from that work later this month.
Senator Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, expressed optimism based on conversations in the Legislature's higher education subcommittee.
"We talked about a cultural change that this university is going to have to go through and is moving towards that way," he said. "We came to the conclusion that it's a model for the other regional universities as well, that we recognize they too are in a similar situation, just perhaps not as far along. So I'm very encouraged by what I've heard and seen."
SOU President Rick Bailey called the vote a turning point for the university.
"Our short-term financial security is assured, and we are proceeding full-speed ahead with our plan to transform SOU's academic and operational model for the long term," Bailey said in a news release.
The money comes with conditions. SOU must submit monthly financial statements and quarterly reports, among other things.
The university has also approved plans to cut at least $20 million, about one-fifth of its budget, in less than a year. Without those reductions and the state funding, SOU had projected it would run out of cash by June 2027.
Those plans follow two other rounds of major cuts at the university in recent years.
University leaders attribute the crisis to years of structural budget deficits, declining enrollment and inadequate state funding, among other factors.
JPR is licensed to Southern Oregon University, but our newsroom operates independently. Guided by our journalistic standards and ethics, we cover the university like any other organization in the region. No university official reviewed or edited this story before it was published.
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