Oregon Student Association
Founded in 1975, OSA is a coalition of student governments dedicated to the representation, service, and protection of the collective interests of over 100,000 students in postsecondary education.
Publications
Internet Digest
March 5, 2007
OSA Rally for Postsecondary Education a Great Success! Over 500 convened on capitol steps in appeal for funding
At what was the largest rally for postsecondary education in Oregon since 1999, over 500 hundred students, administrators, faculty, and staff from colleges and universities across the state joined on the Capitol steps in a collective call for reinvestment in postsecondary education on February 22nd. Legislators who were unable to be in attendance reported hearing the spirited rally calls—and even feeling their rumble—from inside the building. Student emcees, school mascots, and pep clubs led students in chants as they disembarked from buses from as far as Eastern Oregon University and Southern Oregon University, where some students actually battled a blizzard to get to Salem.
Students’ enthusiasm for funding comes as no surprise: over a decade of disinvestment in our colleges and universities has left Oregon students paying more and getting less. In his speech, Lane Community College student Stephen Mohr expressed his concerns about rising tuition and cuts on campus.
“Oregon college students are paying more and getting less,” said Mohr. “At Lane, I have less course selections and less access to my campus veteran representative. And all of this comes at a time when the average Oregon community college tuition has risen by 61 percent over the past five years.”
Throughout the crowd, students sported t-shirts with the “recipe” for a stronger Oregon: increased access to an affordable, quality education for all Oregonians.
“It’s no secret recipe,” said OSA Board Chair and OSU student Megan Driver. “We’re here to send the message loud and clear to our legislators that reinvesting in postsecondary education will make our state stronger. College graduates pay more in taxes, use less in state services, and are overall contributing citizens. We’ll fill the jobs of Oregon’s future economy.”
Students’ message was brought to the homes of many Oregonians through live coverage by several television and radio stations and print coverage the following day.
OSA Lobby Day
Rally speakers, including students, Governor Kulongoski, Representatives Gene Whisnant and Larry Galizio, Chemeketa Community College President Gretchen Schuette, and faculty and staff, encouraged those present to continue their message indoors by meeting with legislators. Over 60 students did in fact stay behind after the rally for OSA’s Lobby Day. Students met with 62 legislators to share their stories about how access to a quality college education affects their lives. At the meetings, students delivered over 15,000 recipe cards to their legislators with the “ingredients” for a stronger Oregon that were signed by college students from across the state. These ingredients are students’ 2007 priority legislative issues:
Funding and Tuition: Fund our universities at the level recommended in the Governor’s budget to keep tuition low and provide our institutions with the funds they need to provide a quality education. In addition, allow OUS to retain interest earnings on tuition without decreasing general fund support. Fund community colleges with $529 million in order to enroll more students and better serve our diverse constituencies.
Shared Responsibility Model: Fully implement this new model for need-based aid in Oregon that would reinstate students’ ability to work their way through college and that defines, for the first time, what a student can actually afford to pay for college.
ASPIRE (Access to Student assistance Programs In Reach of Everyone): Fully expand this volunteer mentor program that gives high school students the tools to access a postsecondary education.
Tuition Equity: Pass this bill to allow all qualified Oregon high school graduates access to in-state tuition rates, regardless of documentation status.
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Site last updated on 07/07/2008 at 09:52 AM.
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