New Oregon bill shows ‘Promise’

Wouldn’t it be great if Oregon’s high school graduates were handed two years of free tuition at a community college? It might sound like a far-fetched dream, but instead could become a reality.

Senate Bill 1524, also known as the Oregon Promise Initiative, has already won early support and an important committee vote to be considered by the Oregon Legislature when legislators meet in Salem in January 2015.

The measure would have the state of Oregon pay for two years of community college for any eligible high school graduate. On paper, this sounds amazing, but is it actually viable? At the very least, we need to start taking a hard look at this.

The potential benefits of this bill’s success are incredibly tantalizing. Students would be more inclined to finish high school if they have a concrete opportunity to further their education. With more people going to college, we would likely have a more educated state of Oregon, not to mention a better-trained workforce.

College enrollment would likely go through the roof. While this would not directly translate into higher revenue for the state’s colleges (the state would simply pay, then collect, the tuition), the offer would likely push thousands more students to campuses, where they would purchase more school merchandise, textbooks, food, and the like, boosting bottom lines. And ultimately, it would give some peace of mind and hope for the students of Oregon to know that there is a financially secure means of obtaining a college education.

On the downside, a couple of points worth note: Some extra administrative costs to process and distribute the new tuition payments, and the potential impact at four-year universities that lose freshman and sophomore students to the two-year schools.

There are plenty of logistics that haven’t been finalized for this relatively young measure.

Several unclear aspects of the bill must be addressed. Will new benchmarks be set in order to produce and verify the intended outcomes? What do two years of tuition mean, in terms of credits or classes covered? How long could new high school graduates wait before they had to make use of the tuition credits? Will total costs outweigh the benefits?

As far as benchmarks, a GPA of at least 2.5 should be required for students to obtain the tuition waiver. Not only would more people be graduating, as a whole, they also would study harder and record better grades.

A great solution to alleviate many of the preliminary concerns is to reimburse students who successfully complete each term. That way, students can’t bail once financial aid is distributed and the state makes sure its money is going to students who are putting it to good use.

In our view, students should be required to use the benefits within a year after they graduate from high school. People can usually take a term off from school and then get back in the groove, but those who wait a year or more are less likely to follow through.

And, two years might sound great, but what does that really mean?

An individual could earn just how many, or few, credits per term within a two-year span? There should be a set amount of per-term credits to ensure that those benefitting from the bill will actually earn a degree – about 12 to 15 credits a term. Maybe a personal coursework plan for those two years should be required of all free-tuition participants.

The potential price tag of this legislation seems rather daunting. State Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, chief sponsor of the bill, said that if all 32,000 new high school graduates each year in Oregon took advantage, the state would pay $250 million annually. While only a “worst-case” scenario, that figure might become a realistic one, should the incentive for high school students truly boost college ambitions. Could the state really sustain that cost? And would this translate into higher tax rates needed to foot the bill?

Regardless of your individual stance, the measure demands the attention of all community colleges and students, and all Oregonians.

There is not yet enough information on this bill for The Advocate to take a firm editorial stance. But this is the perfect time for us at Mt. Hood, as a college, and for the state to begin serious debate. That way, when the crucial details begin to pour in, and the time for a formal decision arrives, we can address the bill with a united opinion.

This could be amazing for Oregon if it pans out, so let’s keep a close watch.