EOU board approves tuition rates, budget and ballfield project

Eastern Oregon University students and families will pay more for tuition, housing and meal plans next year, even as the campus trims the student health fee and moves ahead with a $6.6 million ballfield project that could shape life on South Campus in La Grande.

The Eastern Oregon University Board of Trustees unanimously approved the 2026-27 rates package, a preliminary Education and General budget, Oregon State Treasury investment services, an advisory Board Executive Council and the Ballfield Complex project. The rates package includes a 2.7% tuition increase, a 4.75% increase in room rates, a 4% increase in board rates and meal plans, a $59-per-term decrease in the Student Health Fee and a $3-per-term increase in the Student Incidental Fee.

For students living on campus, those changes land in concrete ways. EOU’s current incidental fee is listed at $397 per term and its health service fee at $239 per term, meaning the health fee would drop to $180 while the incidental fee would rise to $400. The university also lists a one-time $250 matriculation fee for new and transfer students, adding another up-front cost for incoming Mountaineers.

President Kelly Ryan told trustees that affordability remains central to the university’s mission. “EOU’s value is to try and make higher education as affordable as possible,” she said, tying the pressure on college prices to whether students enroll and stay enrolled. She said financial reasons are the top reason students do not go to college and also the top reason students leave.

EOU said the preliminary budget keeps the university near balance while maintaining board fund-balance goals. That matters at a regional university where enrollment, staffing, facilities and academic programs have to be managed closely. The university’s strategic framework, Ascent 2029, sets financial-sustainability targets that include an E&G fund balance of 20% to 25% and a primary reserve ratio of at least 40%.

The board also advanced a refined Phase 1 scope for the Ballfield Complex, now estimated at $6.6 million. That phase includes South Campus infrastructure, a basic competition baseball facility and initial softball improvements. EOU said the project will be funded through capital improvement and renewal dollars, sports lottery funding and donor support, and will not use Education and General or tuition dollars.

The university has framed the ballfield work as more than an athletics upgrade. A better complex could support student recreation, campus events and local gatherings that bring people and spending into La Grande, while giving Eastern Oregon University a more visible public presence. Trustees also reviewed enrollment support materials, state and federal advocacy updates, shared governance reports and key performance indicators tied to Ascent 2029 as they closed out the two-day spring meeting May 21 in Inlow Hall.