Reasons for the decline include increased tuition and reduced state funding, experts say

Despite beating the national average, Oregon sent fewer high school graduates on to college in 2005 than in the past five years, and education experts attribute the enrollment decline in part to increased tuition and reduced state funding, according to a report by the Oregon University System.

"While we're pleased to see our high school graduates pursuing college at higher rates than seen in some other states, there are some troubling trends that reflect Oregon's inability to adequately fund postsecondary education and serve our under-represented students," said OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner in a statement released Wednesday.

These trends include declines from already low college attendance rates among American Indian and Latino high school graduates.

In collecting data for the report, "Where Have Oregon's Graduates Gone?", OUS conducted random telephone surveys of 1,330 students who graduated from Oregon high schools in 2005.

Results showed that nearly 73 percent of those polled enrolled in a two- or four-year college by winter term.

Of the 21.7 percent of respondents who attended OUS institutions, 31.9 percent chose Oregon State University. Of the nearly 30 percent of students who enrolled in Oregon community colleges, 14.3 percent selected Linn-Benton Community College.

The U.S. Department of Education only keeps fall term college enrollment figures for high school graduates, according to Ruth Keele, OUS director of performance measurement and outcomes and principal investigator for the report.

Nationally, 66.7 percent of 2005 high school graduates were enrolled in a postsecondary institution by fall term. Oregon was slightly ahead of the curve, with 69.4 percent enrollment.

OUS tracks the state's high school graduates biennially, and the most recent report is the latest in a series of seven that began in 1993.

The results of the 2005 report are mixed, Keele said.

"The good news is almost three-quarters of our high school graduates enroll in postsecondary education. On the downside, our enrollment has been declining since 2001, and we still see differences between (ethnic) groups."

Enrollment peaked in 2001 at 75 percent and has been losing ground ever since. Keele attributes this decline to a "long-term disinvestment in higher education in the state."

The public perception that Oregon doesn't support its colleges and universities, combined with tuition hikes and limited financial aid, are causing more high school graduates to delay college or pursue degrees out of state, Keele said.

Last year only 21.7 percent of the state's high school graduates enrolled at OUS institutions, the lowest figure since 1997. Also, more of the state's "high-achieving" students (those with GPAs of 3.75 or greater) are attending out-of-state colleges and universities.

The scene isn't as bleak now as it was in 1995, when 42 percent of Oregon's most academically gifted young adults studied out of state following Measure 5 cuts, but Keele thinks the climate is shifting back in that direction.

Following the 1999 legislative session, higher education saw in influx in state dollars, and enrollment flourished. "Now we're seeing the reverse," she said.

Keele said safeguarding the quality and affordability of higher education in Oregon, as well as streamlining transfers from high schools to community colleges to four-year institutions, is necessary to help turn things back around.

Mary Ann Albright covers higher education. She can be reached at maryann.albright@lee.net or 758-9518.

By the Numbers

Here's a look at where Oregon's 2005 high school graduates were by winter term:

• Grads enrolled in a two- or four-year college: 73 percent

• Female grads attending college: 79.4 percent

• Male grads attending college: 66.7 percent

• Grads enrolled at an OUS institution: 21.7 percent

• Grads enrolled at an Oregon community college: 30 percent (with three-quarters of these students planning to transfer to an OUS institution)

• Grads enrolled at a four-year institution out of state: 11.5 percent

• "High achieving" grads enrolled at OUS schools: 38 percent

• "High achieving grads" enrolled at private Oregon colleges: 16 percent

• "High achieving grads" enrolled at Oregon community colleges: 17 percent

• "High achieving" grads going out of state: 27 percent

• Caucasian grads attending college: 73.2 percent

• African American grads attending college: 83 percent

• Asian American grads attending college: 85 percent

• Hawaiian/Pacific Islander grads attending college: 87 percent

• Hispanic/Latino grads attending college: 60 percent

• American Indian grads attending college: 59 percent

Source: The 2005 Oregon University System study, "Where Have Oregon's Graduates Gone?"

On the Net: The complete report is available online at www.ous.edu.