EUGENE (AP) — University of Oregon officials project a record number of students to set foot on campus this fall.

If 20,500 students enroll, as projected, it would be the school's fourth attendance record in five years. The only exception was fall 2003, when the school missed a record by a dozen students.

In Corvallis, Oregon State University officials project a record enrollment for the ninth straight year. Roughly 19,300 students are expected to attend, up from 19,162 last fall.

The numbers for both schools are only estimates; some students who have indicated they will enroll in the fall still might change their minds while others who planned to go elsewhere still could land at either school.

"We're really pleased with what we're seeing for enrollment for fall term," said Martha Pitts, admissions director at Oregon.

"And with the gubernatorial and legislative investment in higher education, from an enrollment standpoint we're really pretty optimistic," she added.

The 2005 Legislature increased funding for higher education by 5 percent above the last biennium, to $706.5 million, although that's still 8 percent less than what universities received in 2001-03. Legislators also held tuition increases to 3 percent a year and increased funding for need-based tuition aid by 50 percent, enough money to provide grants to all eligible students for the first time.

"This reinvestment in higher education we hope will really have an impact on access to higher education for students who may have counted themselves out of the process because they couldn't afford it or believed they couldn't afford it," Pitts said.

If the UO projection holds up, enrollment will increase less than 1 percent over the 20,339 students who signed up for classes last fall. That's in line with the university's policy of limiting enrollment growth.

"Our goal has been and continues to be to maintain our enrollment in that corridor between 20,000 and 21,000 students," Pitts said.

Bob Bontrager, OSU's assistant provost for enrollment management, said that after several years of dramatic annual increases starting in 1998, Oregon State has settled into a pattern of more modest and predictable growth.

"We would have to pay close attention to any significant growth over where we are right now," he said.