By the end of the day Friday we could know if the Oregon Board of Higher Education approved the proposal allowing OSU-Cascades to offer four years of classes.

State Representative Jason Conger will be at that meeting in Salem and says the community support is overwhelming, the need is terrific and the fact that much of the infrastructure is in place so having a four year college in Bend would be a relatively low cost to the university system.

"I'm really optimistic and very hopeful. This is the next key step in the growth of that institution in Central Oregon. And if OSU-Cascades is going to expand and going to grow to meet it's potential, to expand that availability, the academic excellence in Central Oregon and serve the whole state, this is the next step that has to happen."

Conger says the Bend City Council's vote of financial support Wednesday night is another example of how the community has come together in a very short amount of time to make the college a reality.