by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle
April 23, 2026
Tuition will be up again at Oregon’s seven public universities this fall, marking the 12th school year in a row that each of the state’s four-year post-secondary institutions raised the cost of admission for incoming freshmen.
The continued reliance on rising tuition to cover the bulk of university costs without greater investment by the state year-over-year means Oregon’s public four-year institutions are, on average, the most expensive public higher education institutions in the West, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
For six of the last 10 years, resident undergraduate tuition increases in Oregon have exceeded the rate of inflation, averaging 4.3% each year for the last decade, or about $430 more each year. Schools need permission from the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission if they seek to raise tuition by 5% or more.
None of Oregon’s four-year public universities has frozen or lowered resident undergraduate tuition since the 2014-15 school year, according to commission data.
“Tuition in Oregon is too high,” commission director Ben Cannon said in an email. He characterized the state’s investment in higher education as “meager” and said that “as long as Oregon continues to rank among the lowest third of states for public investment in higher education, we can expect that tuition — and tuition increases — here will be relatively high.”
Along with underfunding from the state, board members at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Portland State University, Oregon Institute of Technology and Western and Southern Oregon universities who approved the tuition increases cited enrollment volatility, inflation, rising labor costs and budget deficits as reasons for the increases.
Eastern Oregon University’s Board of Trustees will vote on a proposed increase at the end of May, but the board typically approves recommendations from administrators.
Student tuition and fees make up more than half of revenue at every Oregon university. That’s one of the highest proportions in the nation, according to a 2022 report commissioned by lawmakers from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, a nonprofit think tank in Colorado.
About 25 years ago, public funding accounted for up to 75% of the cost of each full-time employee at an Oregon university. Now, it pays for about 50% or less, researchers found. Oregon’s per-pupil funding for full-time college students is significantly less than what California and Washington provide per student.
In 2025, the state spent about $6,500 per full-time-enrolled student at a public university, well below the national average of $11,150 per full-time student and less than all but four other states, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.
Students and their families have largely covered the difference by taking out loans. More than 500,000 Oregonians are paying back federal loans, with an average college debt load of $38,000. More than 40% are under the age of 35, according to U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Census Bureau data.
Enrollment at Oregon’s public universities in the past decade has, on average, remained flat or declined. Oregon State University is the exception, with about 17% more students enrolled last year across all levels than were enrolled in 2017. Portland State University’s enrollment, on the other hand, has declined by nearly 40% since 2017, going from more than 27,000 students in 2017 to about 19,700 students in 2025.
Another revenue boosting measure for universities has been accepting more students from out of state, who pay roughly two to three times as much as Oregon residents to attend the state’s public universities. Students from other states make up about half of enrollment at Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.
For non-resident undergraduate students, tuition next year will rise on average by $1,200, higher than the average $988 annual increase for the past ten years.
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Cannon added that prospective students should look behind the “sticker price” of college tuition, however.
“Thanks to direct support from the federal and state government, and from institutions themselves, many students pay far less than the published tuition price,” he said.
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Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected].