Throughout the last legislative session, Eugene’s state and federal representatives said they worked hard to ensure that Oregon’s residents could still attend college, even with the costs of higher education spiraling ever upwards.
As the elected officials enjoyed their break between sessions, they detailed what they were doing in the interim, and also what they had planned for the upcoming sessions in Salem and Washington, D.C.
State Senator Susan Castillo (D-Eugene) said she was “definitely among those legislators who worked to try and get as much funding as possible” for higher education.
Castillo added that in addition to her work in the budget battle she also attempted to help relieve student debt by adjusting some of the state’s student loan programs.
She also said she was proud of her work in ensuring that parents in low income families could also obtain a university education. Castillo said that she knows a number of students are dropping out of Oregon’s public universities because they can not afford an education and child care. To combat this, Castillo said she devoted more public funding to state-managed child care.
In an effort to help universities and state business, Castillo said she also supported legislation that would help researchers move their work from the educational field into the business world.
“I wanted to help get these ideas that get born in the University setting out into the marketplace,” she said. “We think that’s going to be very valuable.”
State Rep. Phil Barnhart (D-Eugene) said it was difficult to ensure that most of Oregon’s public services would be fully funded because of the “general anti-government attitude of a substantial number of the population.”
He said in light of this it was hard to avoid the tuition and fee increases for higher education, but added he did his best to minimize both.
“Students are paying more, I wish that hadn’t happened,” he said.
Barnhart said he attempted to make block grants more accessible to students with children and also tried to increase state scholarship funds.
In another area of concern, Barnhart said he has been working to protect Oregonians’ privacy.
He said next session he is hoping to open discussion on how much information companies should be allowed to obtain about their customers.
“Individuals should have the right to control their personal information,” he said. “I don’t believe big companies should be allowed to accumulate that information.”
State Rep. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) also said privacy is a concern for her and said she has been trying to convince the University administration to stop using students’ social security numbers as personal identification numbers because of growing instances of identity theft. Walker added she is trying to end companies selling their customer information because her own family has received unsolicited phone calls from telemarketers.
“It really ticked us off,” she said.
She said she is also going to continue monitoring the state’s paycheck and car title loan industry to help people avoid becoming even more mired in debt or losing their cars. She said borrowing from such agencies is like “borrowing from your worst enemy.”
And Walker said she wants to continue to fund the state’s need-based scholarship program and help students obtain and pay off student loans.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Eugene) said that he helps fund scholarships at the University and at several community colleges in the state that directly help students and has also been working to adjust student loans so that “thousands more students are getting loans at lower cost.”
DeFazio, however, said the current climate in the nation’s capital is not appreciative of helping more people obtain a university degree.
“Right now the outlook, unless you’re a defense contractor or wealthy, is pretty dim,” he said.
Most of his work, he said, has been arguing against budget increases for the Pentagon and what he said were unfair tax breaks for the rich.
“We’re going to be engaged in a major budget battle,” he said.
Currently there has been talk in the state of DeFazio making a bid for the U.S. Senate or Governor’s office, but he announced on Sept. 5 that he will not make a run for either office.
He said he has too much work to do in the House of Representatives and “life’s too short” to run around the state seeking funding and support for a Senate bid.
Oregon’s U.S. Senators could not be reached for comment, but Sen. Ron Wyden’s office said the Senator has been active recently in dealing with the Klamath Basin water debate. And Sen. Gordon Smith recently hosted a summit on wildfire prevention. Both senators jointly sponsored legislation that would protect the Little Sandy watershed.
State reps want to keep students’ expenses low
Daily Emerald
September 16, 2001
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