The good news is students at the University graduate with less debt than other students in Oregon’s four-year public universities.
The bad news is the average University student still graduates with almost $21,000 in debt.@@http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-view2011.php?area=OR@@
According to data released by the Project on Student Debt last month and College Navigator, University students paid an average of $8,190@@http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=university+of+oregon&s=OR&id=209551#retgrad@@ for in-state tuition per year as of 2010 and graduated with an average of $20,928@@this number is on the previously linked website@@ in debt. The reported state average for student debt in public universities was $22,797.@@calculated from projection website@@
“I have a lot of debt,” @@cool story@@University sophomore Mary-Kate Moroney said@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=MaryKatherine+Moroney+@@. She estimated her debt is already past $21,000.
Moroney works about 40 hours a week at the Subway @@eat fresh!@@on campus and is a part-time student. She said she has to work full-time to afford going to school because she has no financial support from her family and hasn’t received any federal grants.
“It’s a real shame,” Moroney said about education funding in Oregon and the United States. She thinks the government should make more federal grants, instead of loans, available to students.
University Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Roger Thompson@@http://oem.uoregon.edu/roger@@ pointed to changes in state and federal education policies as a cause for increasing debt burdens.
“If we look at post-WWII education policy, what we’ve seen is a shift from grants to loans, and that’s unfortunate,” Thompson said. “Though I’m proud UO students have less debt than other public university students, our students still pay too much in debt.”
Students in Oregon seem to face higher debt burdens than students in other states, such as California, where students graduated with an average of $18,113 in debt@@http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/03/business/la-fi-student-loans-20111103@@. Oregon also earned an F grade in affordability from the National Center for Public Policy in 2008 for its low level of financial aid@@http://measuringup2008.highereducation.org/states/report_cards/index.php?state=OR@@. And the chances of things getting better are slim as the state struggles to match aid with increasing enrollment rates and tuition costs.
“We are asking more of our students to contribute a higher percentage of their educational cost,” Oregon Student Assistance Commission Executive Director Josette Green said@@http://www.osac.state.or.us/News/12Nov2010.html@@. “The state cannot provide need-based aid to keep up with rising tuition costs.”
The OSAC oversees the distribution of the Oregon Opportunity Grant, the largest need-based aid grant in Oregon@@http://www.oregonstudentaid.gov/home.aspx@@. The number of grant recipients in all of Oregon’s public universities has declined since 2007.
Though Green said federal Pell Grants will continue to provide low-income students with an average of $3,800 a year, Thompson worries about the cost of tuition for middle-income students.
“There aren’t a lot of programs to help students from middle-income families,” Thompson said. “They are a group that doesn’t seem to get support from any level of government.”@@indeed.@@
In an effort to remedy this, the University has announced it will begin its Solari Scholarship program next fall, offering 125 middle-class incoming freshman $5,000 per year for undergraduate study@@http://financialaid.uoregon.edu/solari_scholarship@@. Students eligible for the scholarship must have at least a 3.6 high school GPA and must demonstrate need and proof of middle-income status.@@bitches! WHY DIDN’T THIS EXIST BEFORE?@@
Despite poor economic times, Thompson said the University will continue to try to make the cost of higher education affordable for all students regardless of income. But he warned that if the state and federal government don’t take more action to improve education affordability, fewer students may go to college and the economy will be what suffers the most.
University students have less debt than other Oregon schools, but numbers are still high
Daily Emerald
November 29, 2011
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