The number of University students receiving the Oregon Opportunity Grant will increase from about 1,700 to more than 2,000 thanks to House Bill 5584, signed on campus Tuesday by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
The bill increases funding for the grant by 71 percent to $78 million, making it possible for all eligible students to receive it. Only 72 percent of eligible students received the grant last year.
“I come at this with the idea that what is really needed for people is the opportunity to actually access education,” Kulongoski said.
Increasing funding for the Oregon Opportunity Grant was the top priority for the ASUO during this year’s legislative session. Students rallied at the state capitol in January to support Kulongoski’s efforts to increase funding, and Kulongoski said after the discussion that student lobbying efforts made a big difference.
“This was not a done deal until the very end,” he said. “It all made a difference.”
ASUO Federal Affairs Coordinator Ashley Rees and ASUO Student Senator Jared Axelrod attended the signing and praised the bill, saying they were pleased the student government’s lobbying efforts had made a difference.

“The opportunity grant was our number one priority. Seeing it happen is great,” Rees said.
“It’s good to know that work is being done through the ASUO, through the Oregon Student Association and other organizations to help students (afford college),” Axelrod added.
Flanked by University Senior Vice President and Provost John Moseley and ASUO President Adam Walsh, Kulongoski held a roundtable discussion with 20 students representing various areas of campus life prior to signing the bill. The discussion touched on many aspects of education, from community colleges to the need to help students of color attend four-year institutions.
Kulongoski said he wants to make it easier to transfer credits from community colleges to universities in Oregon.
“I just think its ridiculous that (after) the cost of education and the time it takes you to actually spend two years at a community college, get a degree, then go to a four-year institution, somebody says ‘Well, you’re going to have to take half of these things over again,’” Kulongoski said.
ASUO Multicultural Advocate Ty Schwoefferman asked Kulongoski how he plans to help increase the number of students of color attending four-year institutions.
The biggest obstacle facing students of color is the socio-economic factors that plague many of them, Kulongoski said, and making higher education more affordable could help them clear that.
“I don’t think this is an issue of ability. It’s money,” he said.
Making it easier to attend college is very important, but decreasing the amount of debt graduates are faced with is equally important, Kulongoski said, calling the huge debts some graduates are faced with “staggering.”
Students thanked Kulongoski for his work on fully funding the Oregon Opportunity Grant, and Kulongoski encouraged them all to stay involved in education lobbying efforts.
“I look out at you, and I see that this was the right thing to do,” he said.
Residence Hall Association President Todd Mann attended the signing and discussion and said afterward that being a recipient of the grant himself “really brings it home.”
Without the opportunity grant, Mann said he would not be able to afford to live in the residence halls, which is an experience he credits with getting him involved in campus politics and with student leadership.
“It really is exactly what it says – it’s an opportunity,” Mann said.

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