Starting in the fall, tuition for Oregon resident undergraduates will increase by more than 4% at Oregon State University in Corvallis and OSU-Cascades in Bend.

The Oregon State University Board of Trustees on Friday approved the increases for the 2019-20 school year, which will raise tuition at OSU-Cascades by 4.4% and 4.29% percent in Corvallis.

Student fees on the Corvallis and OSU-Cascades campuses will increase by 5.2% to 7.2%.

Oregon residents studying as undergraduates and taking 15 credit hours per term at OSU-Cascades will pay $10,638 in tuition and fees next school year compared to $10,158 this year.

Tuition will also increase about 4% for graduate students, nonresident students and students enrolled in Ecampus, the university’s online education program.

About $3.8 million from the tuition increases will be used to increase the amount of need-based financial aid that the university provides students, according to university officials.

OSU President Ed Ray said the tuition increases are one part of the university’s long-term financial strategy to balance its budget.

OSU’s strategy includes decreasing expenses by streamlining management and administrative costs and directing funds to the university’s strategic priorities, such as student success initiatives and upgrading aging academic buildings.

OSU leaders, trustees and students continue to urge Oregon legislators to increase support for higher education.

Legislative budget leaders have proposed a $40.5 million increase to be shared over the next two years for all of Oregon’s public universities, but university presidents have said it would take an additional $120 million in state funding to maintain current operations at the state’s seven universities for the next two years, according to university officials.

Before approving the tuition increases Friday, the state board heard testimony from eight undergraduate students, graduate students and university employees who opposed the tuition increases.

Two representatives from OSU’s faculty and graduate student employee collective bargaining units — United Academics of Oregon State University and the Coalition of Graduate Employees — also urged the board to call upon the state legislature to increase funding for Oregon’s public universities from $736 million to $900 million over the next two years.

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com