Oregon State has the most expensive summer school in state system

By KYLE ODEGARD

Gazette-Times reporter

Want to take summer classes at Oregon State University? It's going to cost you more.

For resident undergraduates taking 12 credits during the sunny season, OSU has become the most expensive school in the Oregon University System.

Summer session tuition and fees at OSU will increase 5.8 percent to $1,697 in 2008 for resident students taking a typical course load of 12 credits. The change was approved last week by the State Board of Higher Education.

"We are fairly comparable throughout the state," said Martin Barry, director of summer session at OSU.

The seven schools in the Oregon University System had an average tuition and fees of $1,567 for resident undergraduate students taking 12 credits, with an average increase of 3.8 percent.

Western Oregon University in Monmouth will be the least expensive, with a summer term cost of $1,424 for Oregonian undergraduates. However, Western and Portland State University are the most expensive for non-Oregonians, with nonresident tuition of more than $4,000 each for 12 credits.

OSU's rate is the same for residents and nonresidents during the summer.

"We've kept it like that so students can have the opportunity to come here," Barry said. "It's very good for our own international students that are here during summer term."

The lower rates, however, haven't attracted visiting students to OSU, he said.

Even with the hike in tuition and fees, summer session at OSU is less expensive than the regular school year, which was $1,970 per term for tuition and fees for resident undergraduates.

Fee increases were partially responsible for the summer term increases, Barry said.

Health fees increased nearly 16 percent this year after students approved hiring a full-time psychiatrist, said George Voss, associate director for administrative services at Samaritan Health Services.

"We recognized, from looking at other schools across the nation, we were way under-providing for mental health on campus," Voss said.

Incidental fees also increased about 9 percent and included more funding for maintenance at the Memorial Union, said Mike Henthorne, the building's director.

OSU graduate student summer tuition and fees increased 5.7 percent to $2,276 for residents taking nine credits, which ranked fourth-most-expensive among Oregon public universities. With the same price for nonresident graduates, OSU was the sixth-most-expensive, with only Eastern Oregon University below it.

OSU had nearly 6,900 students during summer term 2007, including 2,300 taking online courses through the extended campus.

The university offers about 800 courses during summer term. Class sizes generally are much smaller and students can finish three course sequences in a condensed time frame.

"It's a beautiful place to be during the summer. Why students take summer courses is to catch up, speed up, jump ahead. That's our catchphrase," Barry said.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.