Oregon college students won’t be getting many need-based scholarships this next academic year. College isn’t any cheaper, and the students aren’t making any more money. Oregon’s just run out of money. So basically this means that if low-income students are looking to attend college they either go into debt or they just don’t go. What a choice. According to an article by Bill Graves in The Oregonian:
Fewer than half as many Oregon college students will get state need-based scholarships next fall as this year, even though enrollment and tuition is expected to climb at the state’s community colleges and universities. The reduction in scholarships, known as Oregon Opportunity Grants, will force some students to choose between “crippling debt” or leaving school, said Emily McLain, a lobbyist for the Oregon Student Association, which represents students in the state’s seven public universities.
Though an estimated 80,000 Oregon students qualify for the grants, only 20,700 will get them in the coming school year.
This happened because the Oregon Student Assistance Commission, the state agency that runs the grant program, didn’t take in enough money and now has only $24.5 million left for grants. The commission apparently decided to award grants only to the first 20,700 qualified applicants. The commission also reduced the grant amounts.
