College costs

The cost of college can put students into ruinous debt or shut them out from getting to go.

Community colleges in Oregon are the bargain. That can still cost $21,124 a year adding in books, room and board and other expenses on top of tuition.

Public universities can jack up the cost to about $27,500 a year. And state private institutions will hit nearly $55,000.

Those numbers will vary. They are the rough approximations from Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

When the financial requirement is that big, though, how are students and their families supposed to afford it? Minorities and low-income students can be priced right out. Should the state do more to help? A legislative task force is meeting to consider solutions.

One issue is state and federal grants are not keeping up as the cost of attending college goes up. In 2010-2011 the average yearly cost of attendance for a four-year public university in Oregon was about $19,000. The maximum federal Pell grant was $5,550. The maximum grant from the Oregon Opportunity Grant — the largest state need-based grant — for a four-year institution was $1,950.

In 2020-21, the average yearly cost of attendance for a public university in Oregon was about $27,500. The maximum Pell Grant went up, but only to $6,345. The maximum Oregon Opportunity Grant was $3,600.

The Legislature responded and put more into the Oregon Opportunity Grant program. The maximum Oregon Opportunity Grant award for 2022-2023 will go up to $4,692 per year for four-year institutions. Oregon also has something called the Oregon Promise Grant, which helps students who recently completed high school with a 2.0-plus GPA or a GED, pay for community college. There are other aid and grant programs, as well.

All that is good. The worry is still won’t be enough to cover the gap for many students and it will saddle others with a lot of debt. Break it down by race and minorities can be hit harder. Education won’t be a great equalizer across race and income. It could be a debt trap.

How should Oregon tame this beast? Not every student needs or should go to college. We do want them to have that option, right? Without accumulating too much debt? The answer might be more in state grants. But it can’t just be more in state grants. How are Oregon colleges truly trying to hold down costs?

Next week, Oregon’s Joint Task Force On Student Success for Underrepresented Students in Higher Education meets again. It’s aiming to come up with recommendations for the 2023 legislative session. Local legislator, state Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond, is on the task force. You could contact him if you have any insights, Rep.JackZika@oregonlegislature.gov