Miles Davis, Nagi Naganathan, Kim Morgan
Davis He is President of Linfield University and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Oregon Independent Universities. Naganathan He is President of Oregon Institute of Technology and Chairman of the Oregon Presidential Council. Morgan He is President of the Board of Directors of the Oregon Community College Association.
In the famous words of the nineteenth-century educator Horace Mann, “Education is, above all other means of human origin, the superior means of equalizing the human condition, the balance wheel of the social fabric. ”. With the passage of the Oregon Opportunity Grant half a century ago, the Oregon Legislature recognized that higher education could be this great equalizer of society.. This state-funded program provided as-needed financial assistance to more than 32,000 Oregon’s lowest-income students pursuing a higher education degree in the 2019-20 school year.
As leaders of Oregon’s higher education institutions (Oregon Independent University Association, Oregon Community College Association, Oregon Board of Trustees), and with the Oregon Students Association, we know that education creates opportunity. Now, the state’s incoming governors and legislators, especially those on the Joint Task Force on Student Success for Underrepresented Students in Higher Education, have an opportunity to increase access to higher education in Oregon.
The Oregon Legislature created the Opportunity Grant Program in 1971, one year before the legislature passed the Pell Grant. Pell Grant also provides financial assistance to low-income Americans seeking a college degree and has helped more than 2.3 million Oregon students attend college since its inception. These grants could have easily covered tuition and fees for students attending public universities and community colleges in the 1970s, but declining state and federal investment in public higher education has made student The purchasing power of aid programs has decreased. Too many low- and middle-income Oregonians are being left behind by the burden of higher education.
Increased investment in student aid grant programs has a positive relationship with academic performance. Recipients of Opportunity Grants are more likely to remain enrolled and earn a certificate or degree than those who are eligible for Federal Pelher grants only.
The Higher Education Coordinating Board budget request includes a $780 million increase to the Opportunity Grants Program. Under the proposed budget, community college students with zero expected family contributions will be awarded $6,533 for the 2023-24 school year and $6,810 for the 2024-25 school year. For a student attending a four-year college, the estimated prize money for the 2023-24 academic year is $12,546, and for the 2024-25 academic year she increases to $12,897. Currently, students at the same community college are awarded only $3,600 to her, while seniors will be awarded $4,962 to her.
Nearly a third of Asian American, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, or Native American/Alaska Native students who reported their demographic data when applying for financial aid 1 are currently eligible for an opportunity grant, compared to 23% of white students. According to a commission report. Funding the Commission’s demands will help more students—and more students of color—access and succeed in higher education.
College affordability is a key issue and requires a multi-pronged strategy to effectively address it. We must work together to reform student loan programs and direct subsidies to those most in need. Oregon alone cannot fill the gap. Congress should also respond to calls to double Pell Grant’s size. Oregon is lucky to have a delegation that broadly supports her grant. Investing in Pell Grants is a proven strategy for improving student success and retention efforts and increasing opportunities.
As students wait for Congress to double Pell grants, Oregon legislators could pay the promised advances to Oregon students by increasing the Opportunity Grants program during the 2023 session. I can do it. It’s time to create opportunities for all and provide marginalized communities with real potential for social mobility.
Maria Zavala, Chair of the Oregon Students Association Executive Committee, also co-authored the article.
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