Portland State University Provost Robert Williams told the October 2026 Faculty Senate that the university had not met a core enrollment goal: bringing in more new students than it loses to those who stop out or graduate. “We did not meet that goal,” he said. PSU is now moving to spend $10.8 million over three years on enrollment recovery while cutting the people who teach its students. For Oregon’s labor movement, that raises a question: Will the plan protect the faculty and staff students need to complete their degrees?
On Sept. 25, PSU’s trustees approved a three-year enrollment initiative called Start | Stay | Finish. President Ann Cudd says it will stabilize enrollment, then deliver 800 net new students and $14.5 million in revenue by fiscal year 2030. The money will come from education and general fund reserves, according to Cudd’s Sept. 29 blog post.
Recruitment merits investment, but Cudd’s projections deserve scrutiny, especially when employment decisions could weaken PSU’s ability to keep students enrolled.
PSU’s “2026 Institutional Reductions” page cites financial necessity and a 23 percent enrollment decline since 2019 to justify job cuts. Yet a university describing itself as too financially strained to keep faculty has found $10.8 million for a marketing and recruitment plan. This is a choice about priorities.
Of the $10.8 million investment, Cudd assigns 84 percent to recruitment, 9 percent to persistence tracking and student analytics, and 7 percent to community engagement. Trustees should explain how that investment will work alongside cuts to the teaching and support students need to finish.
Marketing may bring students to campus, but unavailable required courses can keep them from finishing. Enrollment depends as much on what happens after admission as on the invitation to apply.
The demographic outlook makes that work more urgent. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education projects that Oregon will have 19 percent fewer high school graduates in 2041 than in 2023.
That long-term forecast does not rule out growth at PSU by 2030. Portland State serves transfer students, graduate students, and working adults returning to finish their degrees. Smaller high school graduating classes will intensify competition for recent graduates. PSU’s prospects for growth therefore depend in part on how well it recruits and supports students whose paths to college begin later or follow a different route, the students most affected when advising and instruction are cut.
State enrollment data show PSU losing ground as Oregon State grows. From 2019 to 2025, PSU fell from about 26,000 students to 19,700, while Oregon State climbed from about 32,800 to 38,500, according to the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission. In this market, recruitment spending can shift students among campuses without increasing overall enrollment. PSU is entering this competition late, while Oregon State has grown.
Online courses and community college partnerships may help. They also require instructors, advising, and dependable course schedules. Students studying from home still need someone to explain an assignment, evaluate their work, and help them complete a degree.
Meanwhile, PSU’s July plan to help address a $35 million deficit calls for eliminating 36 full-time academic positions and reducing three others to part-time. The university also announced it will eliminate the Conflict Resolution and University Studies departments. Those cuts risk weakening the teaching and support the enrollment plan depends on.
For a working student, an unavailable required course can mean another term of tuition and another delay in reaching their career goals. For a parent, a schedule change can disrupt work and child care arrangements. Faculty and support staff help students navigate these challenges. Cutting their positions risks making a difficult path harder.
Labor has a direct stake in that outcome. Portland State prepares teachers, counselors, social workers, engineers, and public employees. Its educational mission connects university workers with the communities and workplaces its graduates serve.
Trustees should redirect part of the approved $10.8 million toward helping students complete their degrees. That could mean protecting required course sections, improving advising, and helping former students return to finish. Recruitment spending should proceed in stages, with further commitments tied to enrollment gains and the additional revenue remaining after costs. Reserves can fund a trial; continuing commitments need recurring revenue.
Cudd has promised quarterly tracking. Her reporting should include course availability, progress toward degrees, and the effects of personnel reductions. Faculty, staff, and their unions should help evaluate the results and shape any changes.
Oregon lawmakers have a responsibility here, too. A public university serving working adults cannot build a stable future through repeated job cuts and competition for a shrinking pool of students. Sustained public funding must support affordable education and the people who provide it.
PSU should use its limited reserves to test recruitment and retention together, protect the teaching students need to finish, and expand spending when results justify it. Trustees should judge success by how many students complete their degrees as well as how many the university recruits.
Sources
Ann Cudd, “Moving Portland State Forward,” Portland State University, Sept. 29, 2026: pdx.edu/president/blog/moving-portland-state-forward (the $10.8 million investment, the 84/9/7 breakdown, the 800-student and $14.5 million targets, reserves, and quarterly tracking).
Portland State University, “2026 Institutional Reductions”: pdx.edu/president/2026-institutional-reductions (the 23 percent enrollment decline since 2019 and the financial-necessity rationale).
Portland State University, “PSU finalizes academic restructuring plan,” July 21, 2026: pdx.edu/news/psu-finalizes-academic-restructuring-plan (the $35 million deficit, the 36 position reductions, and the elimination of Conflict Resolution and University Studies).
Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, Fall Fourth Week Enrollment, 2019–2025: oregon.gov; Portland State University, “PSU by the Numbers”: pdx.edu/portland-state-university-facts (the PSU and Oregon State enrollment figures).
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates (2024): wiche.edu/knocking (the projected 19 percent decline in Oregon high school graduates by 2041).
Very well reasoned!