As of fall 2007, there were 173,650 students enrolled in Oregon’s community colleges and public universities. For 6,000 of those students, the new and improved Oregon Opportunity Grant could put a college education within reach.
Beginning this fall the state-funded grant will help fund Oregon students’ education with up to $72 million annually – more than double its previous amount. Oregon is ranked no. 28 in the nation for need-based aid in post-secondary education, while Washington and California are both ranked in the top 10. The grant’s ultimate objective is to keep student debt, which currently averages about $20,000, below $12,000 for a four-year college education. Students enrolled at Oregon University System institutions may be awarded up to $3,200 per year.
OUS insiders jokingly refer to the grant as the “Hidden Opportunity Grant” because students don’t know much about it. When a student applies for regular financial aid by filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, his or her eligibility for the Opportunity Grant is determined.
“It’s like all kinds of financial aid that’s available,” said Elizabeth Bickford, director of student financial aid. “People don’t really know what the different programs are. It becomes important when they do see it on their award letter.”
People who are familiar with the grant are spreading the word because it has the potential to help break the affordability barrier for under-represented students. ASUO President Emily McLain has spoken at local high schools to promote the grant, and OUS representatives and Gov. Ted Kulongoski have spoken to several media outlets about it. McLain said some students’ families – primarily those of first-generation college students and students in rural areas – are hesitant to fill out financial aid forms because they are unfamiliar and often intimidating. Others assume they can’t afford college and simply don’t apply for aid.
“It kind of goes across all of those different places where there are barriers to post-secondary education,” McLain said.
The old Opportunity Grant was inaccessible to all students whose household income exceeded a certain amount by even $1.
“You basically had to be in severe poverty to get anything,” said Di Saunders, OUS director of communications.
That is no longer the case. The income cap has been turned into an income slope, so students who were teetering on the edge can now receive funds.
“This is a big deal for Oregon,” Saunders said. “This is a significant investment that we’ve never made before to get students into college.”
The grant is expected to double the state’s need-based aid, currently slightly more than $200 per undergraduate student. The grant is part of Kulongoski’s Shared Responsibility Model, which divides college costs between the student, the family, the federal government and the state. The student is expected to contribute funds through a part-time job and a borrowing commitment of about $3,000 per academic year, although scholarships, savings and other money the student provides can substitute for the borrowed portion. Scholarships do not count against the student’s Opportunity Grant total as they did in the past. The family share considers the family’s income and assets. The federal share includes federal funding and the Pell Grant – qualification for the Pell Grant automatically qualifies the student for the Opportunity Grant.
Students can go online to the grant’s Web site and follow the grant award estimate to see if they would be eligible. The Oregon deadline for filing a FAFSA is March 1.
[email protected]