Oregon Opportunity Grant gets a boost in budget

Students who come from lower or middle income families will now receive more money from the state due to the increased funding earmarked for the Oregon Opportunity Grant (OOG). The new funding will allow a greater volume of student eligibility than has been available in past years.

Starting in fall of 2008, the annual state commitment will be more than doubled, to just over $72 million dollars a year, up from $34 million this year. The funding for the grant was only $17 million just five years ago.

The OOG is a state and federally funded, need-based grant that awards students from low and middle income families financial aid. This year the cap for being eligible was a family of four with an income of $31,000. With the increased funding coming in this year, a student coming from a family of four, making up to $70,000 dollars a year, will now be eligible for help with their school expenses. This expansion also means, for the first time in the 37 year history of the grant, part-time students will not be excluded from eligibility.

Governor Ted Kulongoski hopes to provide for the extra funding in part by increasing the state's minimum corporate income tax. The corporate minimum income tax has not been raised since 1931. The governor stated that "The opportunity to afford a higher education has slipped away from too many young people in Oregon." Kulongoski also claimed in a press release that "In order to stay ahead, we need the best-educated, best trained, most-skilled workforce in the country. But, to accomplish this, we must again invest in Oregonians-and that begins with investing in their education."

Even with the OOG budget increasing, Oregon lags behind both Washington and California in providing need-based aid and is ranked only 28 on the national scale. During the 2005-06 school year the state of Oregon provided $223 (estimated to be near $400 during 2008-09 school year) per undergraduate student. During the same school year the State of Washington provided $695 per student (top five in the nation) and the State of California provided $514 per student.

Western's Associate Provost, David McDonald seems to agree that Oregon students aren't getting enough help. "In past years there has not been enough funds for many students who needed help paying for college. This extension of the grant provides a step in the right direction and will provide funds to a greater number of students and a greater amount of money to each individual."

According to McDonald the grant for this school year only covers about 11 percent of a student's college expenses. By his estimates, if a student received the maximum amount of money for a four year school ($3,200) from the OOG and combined that with the federal Pell Grant students would have nearly half of their college expenses covered.

In order to help lower and middle income students to pay for their tuition and other expenses while decreasing the amount of accumulated debt through loans, the Governor and the Oregon Student Assistance Commission (OSAC) has set up what it calls the Shared Responsibility Model. Under that model the federal government (Pell Grant, tax credits), state government, students' families and the students themselves are each responsible for a portion of the student's education costs.

Under the OOG students are expected to cover a portion of the cost of their education through part-time work, savings, scholarships and loans. It is important to note that the savings a student has for college does not come into consideration when applying for the OOG. Beginning in fall of 2008, the state believes that doubling the maximum grant awards will help to reduce borrowing and employment needs for the student.

Another big change this year related to the grant is that for the first time there is a strong effort being made to market the grant to high school and college students. A television commercial that will be shown statewide starting Monday was filmed here at Western. There are already commercials on the radio promoting the OOG. McDonald believes that with more students applying in the coming years, demand will increase and he sees the state willing to meet that challenge.

McDonald also wanted to remind students that the OSAC provides over $9 million in scholarships separate from the OOG to Oregon students, many of which are not need-based.

Applying for the OOG is as easy as filling out your FAFSA at the beginning of each year. After filling out the FAFSA students are automatically applying for funds from the OOG.•