Adequate funding has always been an issue for the free
community college tuition programs that some states are trying to implement. State
lawmakers in Oregon knew their two-year appropriation of $40 million was $8
million short of projected costs, so that program was recently forced to
tighten its income-related criteria and won’t be able to provide for every eligible student.
Despite the cutback, the Oregon Higher Education
Coordinating Commission has notified more than 8,000 students that they did qualify
for the scholarship. The 6,800 students who received the award in the program’s
first year will also receive all the money promised to them, regardless of
their income.
“Most kids will still be able to get the scholarship,” said
state Sen. Mark Hass, chief architect of the program. “It’s just upper-end
families who won’t and, frankly, there aren’t too many of those at our
community colleges anyway.”
Families that are able to contribute $18,000 or more
for college based on information from the Free Application for Federal Student
Aid form are being cut out of the program this year, which has generated some
criticism. Hass expects that full eligibility will be restored next year.
The Oregon Promise was never meant to provide free
tuition to everyone in the state. It doesn’t cover living expenses and only
pays for tuition costs that remain after other need-based grants are used.
However, the program does award a minimum of $1,000 to the poorest students to
help defray costs such as fees, textbooks, and transportation.
“I
don’t like that they’re getting slammed for it,” said Sara Goldrick-Rab, Temple
University professor and advocate for college accessibility who is the keynote
speaker for the 2017 Textbook Affordability Conference Nov. 10-12, at Georgia
Institute of Technology, Atlanta. “I think they’re being really careful with
taxpayer dollars and I find that really respectable.”
