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Legislature passes problematic bill to subsidize community college tuition

Rich Read has the story in the Oregonian, here:

In Oregon, the main beef with Hass’s plan is that it could give more money to middle-income students than to the state’s most needy high-school graduates.

… “If you’re a middle-income student that does not receive Pell, this program will cover your tuition,” said Andrea Henderson, the Community College Association’s executive director. “If you’re low-income, you’ll get a minimum $1,000, which will help with books and fees – but low-income students are still taking out loans.”

A preferable approach, Henderson said, would be for the Legislature to fully fund the Oregon Opportunity Grant, which is the state’s largest need-based grant program for students planning on college. The Oregon Office of Student Access and Completion planned to disburse more than $58 million in Opportunity Grant money to about 35,000 students for the 2014-15 academic year. But demand exceeded appropriations.

“Only a fraction of those eligible for the Opportunity Grant actually get it,” Henderson said. “Our position, and that of the HECC, was that available money go first to the Opportunity Grant.” HECC is the acronym for the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, a higher-ed oversight panel that would administer Oregon Promise.

Another problem with the Oregon Promise approach is that it could unintentionally discriminate against four-year degree candidates in their first two years at universities by funding only community-college students, said José Padín, a Portland State University sociology professor speaking for the American Association of University Professors’ Oregon chapter.

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