State must fund

suffering education system
Bent over the guillotine, funding for post-secondary education sits on the chopping block; the blade of the state budget cuts hovers a mere inch above the heads of students. Once the current budget plan, recently signed by the Oregon Senate, receives the governor’s signature, more than 3,000 Oregon college students will lose some or all of their Oregon Opportunity Grant for the next school year. Oregon recently received an “F” for affordability by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, and any further cuts will drastically damage students’ abilities to attend college.
I know that K-12 education is facing a funding crisis and that the Education Stability Fund money is needed to keep K-12 schools going. However, Oregon’s colleges and universities are suffering their own crisis as well. Oregon needs to support education at all levels, rather than transferring funds between higher education and K-12. By maintaining funding and grants for higher education in the next biennium, students will have the opportunity to receive a college education, allowing Oregon to reap the economic benefits of a highly educated workforce in the future.

Tobias S. Piering

freshman

pre-planning, public policy and management