For the third year in a row, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education has given Oregon an “F” for higher education affordability.
In reports titled “Measuring Up 2006: The State Report Card on Higher Education,” the organization grades every state on multiple factors varying from how prepared high school students are for college to how states benefit from having an educated population.
Oregon was one of 42 states that earned an “F” grade in “affordability,” which measures “whether students and families can afford to pay for higher education, given income levels, financial aid, and the types of colleges and universities in the state.”
According to “Measuring Up,” the average family in Oregon will have to pay 36 percent of its income to pay expenses at a four-year public university or 77 percent at a four-year private college. The report also highlighted student debt and revealed that undergraduates in Oregon borrow an average of $3,558 for each year of school.
Elizabeth Bickford, director of student financial aid at the University, pointed out that one of the more telling aspects of “Measuring Up” is the fact that Oregon is not alone in its failure to make college affordable.
She said both federal and state governments have been lacking because as states are reducing funding for higher education, the federal government has failed to increase the amount of aid available.
“The issue is, a number of states have joined us in the F. What that means is that there are a number of factors. Oregon is a state where over the years we have experienced a disinvestment in higher education on the part of the state,” she said.
Although nearly every other state in the nation earned an F (a few earned Ds and two – California and Utah – earned a C-), Oregon is statistically one of the least affordable states, according to the report. Only five states require a greater percentage of family income to pay the costs of a public four-year college and three require a greater percentage to pay for a private four-year school. In a numbered “index score,” which scores the states between 1 and 100 based on all factors, Oregon earned a 42. Only New Hampshire and Montana fared worse, both earning a score of 39.
Bickford said the problem with college affordability is due to several factors, many beyond the control of the Oregon University System.
“When you have a history of not putting money into the system to help needy students or to invest in the colleges themselves to help keep tuition low, and all the things that will happen with higher education, at some point the costs are going to go up for the student,” she said.
Diane Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Oregon University System, said the State Board of Higher Education is working on making college affordable for low middle-income students through a program called the “shared responsibility model,” which awards students for helping pay for their own college costs.
Under that four-step model, students would help pay for their own educations through student contributions, which can come from working, scholarships, or other types of aid, family contributions and federal Pell Grants. Any costs not covered by these first three steps would be covered by the state, according to documents Saunders gave to the Emerald.
Saunders said that should the state legislature pass the model, college will be affordable for all Oregonians. If it is passed, the hope is that it would take effect beginning in the 2007-08 school year.
She also said one thing not reflected in the recent report is the fact that the state legislature recently approved a $34 million increase in the funding available through the Oregon Opportunity Grant program. Beginning this school year, 11,000 more students will be eligible for the grant. For the first time, part-time students – about 4,000 of them – will be receiving the grant, Saunders said.
Bickford praised the increase in the Oregon Opportunity Grant and said the University of Oregon is working on its own plan to help lower-income students who have shown that they can succeed in college.
With the implementation of a new University award, the “Dean’s Access Award,” needy students who qualify for a University Dean’s Scholarship will also receive an additional $1000 per year to help offset their expenses.
“We’re trying to bring the cost down for those students and families who are least able to respond to those increases,”
Bickford said.
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