Close to college degree

No one's trying to keep Eastern Oregon University a secret or anything.

Still, we were glad to see EOU President Dixie Lund visit Baker City earlier this month to remind prospective local students that a four-year university lies just 42 miles to the north via Interstate 84.

As with so many other matters involving higher education, the late Leo Adler was involved in Lund's visit.

The philanthropic foundation that Adler bequeathed on his death in 1993 gave EOU $12,000 to start a more aggressive recruiting campaign in Baker County.

Lund, along with Tim Seydel, EOU's associate vice president of marketing, development and public affairs, made their pitch to Baker High School students, then hosted an evening gala at the Geiser Grand Hotel.

Both Lund and Seydel spoke with firsthand experience about the value of a degree from EOU.

Lund, who grew up in John Day, and Seydel, who's a La Grande native, graduated from the La Grande campus.

Their stories serve as powerful proof that Baker County students needn't travel across the state — or across its borders — to complete their education.

If you live in Baker City for more than a few years the odds are good that you'll hear someone insist that Baker City could have "had" EOU decades ago, but unfortunately left the prize for La Grande.

Whether or not there's some truth to that lament, what's beyond dispute is that local students can earn a college diploma on a campus that's close enough for students to commute if they prefer to live in Baker City.

As a bonus, EOU has created a new scholarship of up to $1,000 for students from Baker County and nine Eastern Oregon counties.

We applaud EOU's commonsense approach to increasing its enrollment: Travel to Eastern Oregon towns, encourage people there to apply for admission, then give them an incentive to do so.