So, you're thinking about attending a college or university in Oregon?

Lying in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S., Oregon has one of the most diverse landscapes in the nation. It is well known for its scenic Pacific coastline, dense forests, and rugged volcanoes. Oregon is bordered by Washington to the north, Idaho to the east, Nevada and California to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Oregon's geography varies from rainforest in the Coast Range area to barren desert landscapes in the southeast. With a total area of 97,073 square miles, Oregon is the ninth largest state in the United States. Its highest point is Mount Hood, which stands at 11,239 feet tall, and its lowest point is sea level on the Pacific Coast. Crater Lake National Park, Oregon's only national park, contains Crater Lake, which is the deepest lake in the nation at 1,943 feet deep.

Though the climate in Oregon is generally mild, extreme weather does sometimes occur. It is frequently assumed that Oregon is a wet and soggy state, but this is only really true for the areas near the coast. The central and eastern regions of the state are actually considered to be "high desert." While, on some western coastal slopes, precipitation can be close to 200 inches annually, in a few eastern plateaus, the precipitation can be as low as 8 inches a year.

The estimated population of Oregon, as of 2005, was 3,641,056. This includes approximately 309,700 foreign-born residents, or 8.7% of the population, as well as 90,000 illegal aliens, or 2.5% of the state's total population. 6.5% of Oregon's residents were reported to be under the age of 5, while 24.7% were under 18 and 12.8% were 65 years old or older.

Currently, Oregon is seen as a moderate Democratic-leaning state. Democrats currently hold the office of governor as well as the majority in both the Oregon House of Representative and State Senate. Since 1988, the Democratic presidential candidate has won the state of Oregon in every presidential election. During the 2004 election, John Kerry won Oregon's seven Electoral College votes by a margin of four percentage points, earning 51.4% of the total votes.

Three-fourths, or 75%, of Oregon residents consider themselves to be Christians. The vast majority of these, 54% of the population, follow one of the various Protestant denominations. The remaining Christians are either Roman Catholic (15%), Mormon (5%) or some other Christian religion (1%). As is common in the Northwestern part of the nation, 24% of the total population identify themselves as being non-religious.

The state of Oregon has no sales tax. Thus, its revenue is based primarily on income taxes. Because of this, and the fact that Oregon's state budget is written in two year increments, the state is often significantly over- or under-budget. This has caused many special sessions to be called by the state legislatures to address issues rising from this problem as well as many to question the feasibility of the states policy of having only a biennial legislative schedule.

A number of colleges and universities can be found within the borders of Oregon. These schools include such places as:

• Oregon State University

• The Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech)

• The University of Oregon

• Portland State University

To find more information about universities and colleges in this area, visit the Online College Degrees page on this website.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oregon".

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