Oregon Private Colleges and Universities

Independent Colleges and Universities in Oregon

Most people know that Oregon is famous for pine forests, beautiful coasts, and temperate weather. However, those within academia also know that colleges in the "Beaver State" offer additional advantages that might go unnoticed by the occasional tourist or backpacker. Oregon is a progressive's paradise; book learning, diversity, tolerance, and scholarship are all held in high regard.

Oregon private colleges and universities offer a wide range of education programs with degrees and certificates up to the doctoral level, as well as professional degrees such as law and medicine. These Oregon private schools are diverse in character, academic emphasis, and origins. Some private colleges or schools have a religious affiliation; others are secular. Private colleges and universities may be profit or non-profit institutions. Typically, Oregon independent colleges or private schools give weight to personal characteristics and activities in addition to considering GPA and test scores. While many Oregon private schools are considerably more expensive than comparable state institutions, they also tend to offer more generous financial aid packages. Many students have found the actual out-of-pocket cost to earn a degree from a private college in Oregon to be less than the cost of the state schools to which they were accepted. On the one hand, public colleges are usually less expensive, particularly for in-state residents. They get most of their money from the state or local government. Check out your state's Guide to Residency. Oregon private colleges rely on tuition, fees, endowments, and other private sources of funding. On the other hand, Oregon private colleges are usually smaller and can offer more personalized attention (and some believe, more prestige).

Oregon College Graduate and Undergraduate Degrees

Oregon Cities Colleges:

Oregon Private Colleges and Universities

Oregon Independent Colleges Association

The Oregon Independent Colleges Association represents Oregon's 16 regionally accredited nonprofit higher education institutions.

The OICA is a broadly based compact of regionally-accredited non-profit institutions of higher education bound by a common commitment to quality instruction and human diversity, and dedicated to collaborative and coordinated efforts which strengthen all elements of the independent sector of higher education in Oregon. The purposes of the Association are:

• To articulate the public benefit of independent higher education at both state and national levels and inform public policy decisions relating to the interests of member institutions.
• To develop and promote cooperative programs and activities that further academic excellence and enhance educational opportunity among member institutions and throughout higher education in Oregon.
• To afford voluntary options for member institutions to cooperate in achieving operating economies and in conserving resources.
  To provide a clearinghouse for information about the whole of Oregon's independent higher education enterprise.

• Cascade College, Portland
• Concordia University, Portland
• Corban College, Salem
• New Hope Christian College, Eugene
• George Fox University, Newberg
• Gutenberg College, Eugene
• Lewis & Clark College, Portland
• Linfield College, McMinnville
• Marylhurst University, Marylhurst
• Mount Angel Abbey & Seminary, Saint Benedict
• Multnomah Bible College, Portland
• National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Portland
• Northwest Christian College, Eugene
• OGI School of Science & Engineering, Beaverton
• Oregon College of Art & Craft, Portland
• Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, Portland
• Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland
• Pacific University, Forest Grove
• Reed College, Portland
• Tokyo International University of America, Salem
• University of Portland, Portland
• Warner Pacific College, Portland
• Western Seminary, Portland
• University of Western States, Portland
• Willamette University, Salem