The Oregon Student Association announced on Oct. 9 that it was closing its doors after almost 50 years of operation. OSA is a student-run, student-led advocacy and organizing nonprofit that exists to represent and advance the shared interests of Oregon’s college and university students.
The organization stated in a post on Instagram that, “for several years, OSA has faced challenges related to our organizational structure and funding mechanisms, which have made it increasingly difficult to maintain sustainable operations.”
Founded in 1975, the organization worked with student governments from institutions across Oregon to provide a collective voice for students in state legislatures.
Nick Keough, OSA’s legislative director, has been with the non-profit for the past two years.
“It’s been an incredibly difficult decision to come to the place where we’re at and it’s heavy on my heart and I know it’s heavy on a lot of people that have been connected to OSA through our many decades of advocacy,” Keough said.
According to Keough, OSA has been a “launchpad” for many of Oregon’s leaders who got their start in the organization and who have gone on to work in the areas of public service, nonprofit management and served in the state legislature.
OSA has been a fundamental part of securing billions of dollars in state funding and for expanding financial aid such as the Oregon Opportunity Grant, Koeugh said.
According to Keough, OSA had been struggling financially and organizationally since 2019, which significantly impacted its ability to advocate and lobby for equity and accessibility in higher education.
“This decision is the result of long-standing challenges related to our organizational structure and funding mechanisms, which has really impacted our ability to operate sustainably,” said Keough, “This has been compounded by the car accident that our staff was involved in July, where we lost a staff member and our executive was critically injured.”
The nonprofit’s financial struggles were heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic, as OSA’s inability to be on campuses distanced them from the students they were helping advocate for, Keough said.
According to the State Higher Education Finance Report, Oregon is ranked 44th in the nation for public funding of higher education.
“Our investments in financial aid don’t keep pace with our neighbors in Washington and California, so students are really struggling with tuition and with the escalating student debt crisis. The need for collective student advocacy around these issues has never been greater,” Keough said.
Although UO’s daily interactions with OSA were limited, according to Associated Students of University of Oregon’s Executive Chief of Strategy, Ravi Cullop, the two were in constant communication.
“OSA reported to a lot more schools than just us so our interactions with them on a day-to-day basis were fairly limited but they would always be in the loop about our lobbying stuff and we would always be included in theirs, and we would vote on what they do,” Collup said.
With the largest delegation on the nonprofit’s Board of Governors, UO held a majority vote on OSA’s bylaws, daily activities and priorities, Cullop said.
“It’s really unfortunate that OSA will be closing its doors because it will leave a gap in student advocacy around issues that the University of Oregon and students across the state of Oregon care about the most,” Keough said.
According to Keough, there is so much the organization has to be proud of: it registered 50,000 students to vote in 2012 and helped pass the 2013 tuition equity bill, which granted undocumented students in Oregon access to in-state tuition.
In the 2024 legislative session, OSA helped secure the Behavioral Health Package, which increases the capacity of licensed behavioral health workers at several Oregon institutions.
It also helped pass the School Board Transparency bill, which requires education boards of public school districts, community colleges and universities to video record their meetings and upload those recordings for the public to view online.
“We know there’s a need for strong student advocacy, and we are hopeful that new leaders, new structures and new approaches emerge that will continue the fight for equitable and affordable higher education,” Keough said.
Looking ahead, Cullop said that ASUO is working to facilitate student forums and town hall meetings to figure out what students want from their lobbying efforts now that OSA is no longer on campuses conducting issue surveys.
“We know that the torch is going to be carried by student governments, by organizations and student leaders across Oregon and we’re really encouraging everyone to continue engaging in this important work,” Keough said.
