Kitzhaber

The proposed expansion of Oregon State University-Cascades to a four-year university has “broad support” in the Oregon Legislature, said Gov. John Kitzhaber on a Wednesday visit to Bend.

“I think this will be a slam dunk,” he said. “Because it makes so much sense.”

The OSU-Cascades project would expand the Bend campus to a capacity of 5,000 students by 2025. Local supporters have raised $3.3 million of a $4 million goal set for private donations, but the project’s success hinges on Kitzhaber recommending $16 million in state bonds toward the project. The Legislature, now in session, must approve the bonds.

“The community is really behind this project,” said Oran Teater, chair of the OSU-Cascades board of advisers. “We raised over a million in the first 30 to 40 days and have raised $3.3 million in just the first three or four months.”

OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson presented several possibilities for building sites near the current campus and in the surrounding areas.

“We’d like to integrate the campus among the businesses in the area,” she said. “We’ve also talked about redeveloping or re-purposing former industrial areas into campus areas.”

Johnson mentioned an industrial landfill site west of the existing campus that is owned by Deschutes County as one possibility. She also pointed to the Bend Armory on Simpson Avenue as another possibility.

“The county does have a lot of property in this proximity,” said County Commissioner Alan Unger. “There are certainly opportunities for trading property.”

Brig. Gen. Mike Caldwell of the Oregon Military Department agreed the armory site could be a viable option for trade, but said getting approval from the federal government can take a while.

“Our goal would be to combine the Redmond and Bend sites into one facility,” he said. “It takes about five years to get into the pipeline with the federal government, but it could help to have someone in politics pushing the project ahead.”

Kitzhaber’s statewide “40-40-20” goal — having 40 percent of Oregon adults earn a bachelor’s degree or higher, 40 percent earn an associate degree and 20 percent earn a high school diploma or equivalent by 2025 — would be supported by the expansion of the OSU-Cascades campus, Johnson said.

“When we think of getting 40 percent of our work force with a degree, enhancing their opportunity for economic prosperity, we need to be able to provide opportunities for adult degree completers to return to school,” she said. “We need to keep expanding the number of degrees we offer to meet those needs.”

Recent OSU-Cascades graduate James Collins, who enrolled in several out-of-state schools before coming back to Bend to earn his bachelor’s degree, explained to attendees why having a four-year university in the area would have been beneficial to him.

“It was having OSU-Cascades here, where my family is, that allowed me to complete my degree,” he said. “If I’d had a four-year university here I’d have finished my degree 18 years ago.”

Johnson said having a four-year university in Bend would help keep talent, and dollars, in Central Oregon.

“Our goal is to have 20 percent of our courses online by 2020,” she said. “But I still believe there are advantages in having a residential campus for young people.”

“Being a four-year university as opposed to a two-plus-two is a more sustainable business model for us,” she said. “We need to have a four-year university to make the venture prosperous for our taxpayers and to increase the vitality of the state.”