Stop The Downpour of Student Debt

Oregon students attended the Ways and Means Education Subcommittee’s university budget hearing in Salem today and the community college budget hearing last week to advocate for more accessible and affordable higher education. They asked committee members to restore funding for university and community college budgets and stop the downpour of student debt.

Students demanded increases to higher education budgets including: $755 million for universities and $560 million for community colleges. These increased budget allocations will help stabilize funding for higher education in Oregon and prevent sharp tuition increases next year.

Reinvestment in higher education is badly needed. Oregon has a steady pattern of disinvestment from higher education and it is hurting students. Between 2002 and 2012, funding per student at Oregon decreased by 32%, from $5,663 to $3,650 in inflation adjusted dollars. This disinvestment has begun pricing students out of an education and causing them to go into increasing student debt. This year, 72% of Oregon students will graduate with student debt and the average student debt in Oregon is over $27,000. Total student debt in the United States increases by $2,853.88 per second.

Even now as students continue to struggle to pay for school, the state legislature is debating budgets that will put greater hardship on Oregon’s students by hiking tuition or eliminating services.

If tuition increased by 8% next year we would see the average Oregon student pay $706 more dollars per year in tuition. That is equivalent to 6 months of groceries for the average student. Tuition hikes like those being debated by our elected officials often force students to make tough choice about continuing their education. College students shouldn’t have to drown in debt to get a good education.