The Legislature is going to be choosing what capital projects in higher education get state support. OSU-Cascades should get state support. (Bulletin file)    

If you are a booster of Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, the Legislature will soon be making a decision about its future.

It will be deciding how much money, if any, the campus would get for a student health and recreation center. The request is for $42 million of state support.

Every other public university campus has student mental and physical health facilities on campus. OSU-Cascades does not.

OSU-Cascades recently released an economic analysis showing just how much of an economic driver the campus is for Central Oregon. It has contributed $89 million to the region.

It does so much more that is not captured in that number. The most important, perhaps, is that it  provides a way for local students to pursue higher education without leaving their hometown. That can make the difference between a student having the opportunity for a four-year degree and not, Sherman Bloomer, chancellor and dean of the campus, told us.

What differentiates the capital request from OSU-Cascades from the many others legislators are considering is that students at the campus have agreed to tax themselves to the tune of $20 million to chip in for the cost of the health and recreation center. And many of them may never get to benefit from it.

With the student contribution of $20 million, and another $22 million from the other money from OSU, OSU-Cascades, grants and gifts, the campus is bringing to the table half the project cost. That’s more than any other project on the list of projects the Legislature might fund.

Want to energize a fast growing part of the state and demonstrate that local support matters? Fund the student health and recreation center.