As OSU-Cascades prepares to transform into a four-year campus, officials and their counterparts at Central Oregon Community College are planning for how the two schools will continue to work together.

“At least for the next year or so, we’ll look pretty much the same as we have,” said Jane Reynolds, OSU-Cascades’ director of enrollment services.

OSU-Cascades started in 2001 as a capstone program, where students could take lower-division courses at COCC and transfer for upper-division and graduate courses at OSU-Cascades. The schools overlap in many areas, including student housing, financial aid and academics. Since the beginning, they’ve had a memorandum of understanding outlining their partnership.

The biggest change in the 2015-16 agreement, now in draft form, is the section on lower-division courses offered by OSU-Cascades.

The draft states OSU-Cascades will offer no more than nine majors — that’s about 30 courses — in which dually enrolled students can take up to 12 credits of freshman- and sophomore-level courses, which is considered a full course load at OSU. Currently, OSU-Cascades does not offer lower-division classes without permission from COCC.

Matt McCoy, COCC’s vice president for administration, acknowledged some worry this change will have a negative effect on COCC’s enrollment, but he disagrees. “It’s the thinking of, ‘All ships rising with the tide.’ So far, we’ve been the only game in town. If we do this and do this well, our students will benefit, and Central Oregon will benefit,” he said.

Still, given OSU-Cascades’ limited course offerings next year, most new OSU-Cascades students will be dually enrolled in the two schools and will take courses at COCC. Of OSU-Cascades’ 18 undergraduate majors, all lower-division requirements will be offered for half of them; the rest will require classes at COCC.

Also new next year, dually enrolled students must take at least one credit from OSU-Cascades to use OSU’s financial aid services. Previously, there was no credit requirement for dually enrolled students, meaning a student taking all of his or her classes at COCC could still receive financial aid through OSU.

On facilities, the draft agreement states OSU-Cascades will continue to use Cascades Hall and parts of Ponderosa and Ochoco halls on COCC’s campus. OSU-Cascades plans to develop a 10-acre campus on Bend’s west side, though that has been delayed due to legal challenges. The case is now before the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals, which is expected to rule this month. To make room in Cascades Hall, Reynolds said, some classes for juniors and seniors could move to OSU-Cascades’ Graduate & Research Center on SW Columbia Street.

OSU-Cascades students will continue to have access to COCC’s on-campus housing. COCC is opening a new 330-bed residence hall this fall. As of this week, 140 slots were filled, including 24 by OSU-Cascades students.

The draft agreement also puts into writing practices that so far have operated on an informal basis, from recruitment and registration to tutoring and advising.

“What we did is we identified the waterfront, if you will, of issues to try to make sure we could have a healthy relationship going forward,” McCoy said, noting many details would change if and when OSU-Cascades moves to its own campus.

The draft agreement also includes a statement of commitment for the first time that describes a long-term partnership between the two schools based on communication, mutual respect and equitable collaboration: “The parties agree that not all activities by a partner must benefit both parties, that neither party will take advantage of the partnership to the detriment of the other, and that external constraints may influence or direct certain decisions.”

Officials say they hope to have the agreement in place by July 1. COCC’s board of directors plans to vote on the draft next week.

— Reporter: 541-617-7837,

aspegman@bendbulletin.com