About 3,350 students are set to lose their Oregon Opportunity Grant next year unless the Legislature can rescue the declining need-based program.
Lawmakers passed a package last week to rebalance the state budget shortfall, and it included a bill that drained the remaining $112 million in Oregon’s rainy day education fund, which uses interest to subsidize programs like the Opportunity Grant.
The raided endowment fund resulted in a loss of $1.1 million in the next biennium for the grant, which is the way Oregon provides need-based financial aid. The loss is compounded with $3.4 million in additional losses — $2.2 million from a decline in general funds for the grant and $1.2 million from the loss of federal matching funds, according to the Oregon Student Assistance Commission officials.
Despite the bleak outlook for needy students in the 2003-05 biennium, however, grant money is still secured for spring term of this year. The Legislature replenished about $290,000 to keep the grant active until the biennium ends.
University student Gabe Kjos, a legislative intern with ASUO, said about $1,026 of his tuition money comes from the grant — a lot to make up considering he’s already working 10 hours a week and taking 18 credits.
“Right now, I’m at the max I can be at,” he said. “It’s going to make my life harder as a student and as a student leader here on campus.”
Kjos said he thinks the state needs to make education a bigger priority, especially for students who come from Oregon.
“The Legislature is just sweeping it under the rug,” he said.
This week, lawmakers in the Education Subcommittee of the Joint Ways and Means will hear public testimony about the grant as they consider the OSAC budget. OSAC controls the grant and will be forced to make drastic cuts unless the Legislature replenishes the fund.
Before the state budget rebalance, the commission had expected to award more than 50,000 grants during the 2003-05 biennium. The commission expects to issue about 66,000 grants before the current biennium ends.
ASUO State Affairs Coordinator Adam Petkun said the loss in grant money will either force students to find more jobs or drop out.
“We kind of knew this would happen, and we aren’t happy about it,” he said.
Since the budget package was passed, Petkun and other ASUO officials have blitzed lawmakers with phone calls and lobbying efforts in hopes the Legislature will set education as a priority for the next budget.
“We’ve been stepping up the pressure,” he said. “We’re trying to get it on people’s radar screens.”
Rep. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, hopes to make education, as well as other services he feels are neglected, a priority.
Prozanski is drafting a bill that would restore lost funding to services cut during the budget crisis, including lost need-based program funds.
“I think it’s devastating to higher education and to students in school that the state is continuing to place the burden on university students to balance the budget,” he said. “We’re looking at stabilizing a massive financial wound this state is suffering.”
Prozanski said the state is already facing more than $2 billion in deficits for the next biennium, making it even more necessary to introduce a plan for more stable funding.
“I’m committed to making sure need grant trust funds are replenished,” he said.
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