Oregon Promise will be 'significantly' changed 2 years after it started

Oregon higher education leaders are considering making significant changes to who qualifies for the Oregon Promise, the last-dollar scholarship program approved by lawmakers just two years ago.

Lawmakers are budgeting $40 million for the program in the next two-years, $8 million less than state officials say is needed to pay for it.  So now the state may cut off grants to students from wealthier families to make up the difference.

The proposed changes come days before the state's July 3 application deadline for students looking to enroll for the fall term. More than 13,800 recent high school graduates and GED recipients have already submitted applications. State higher education staffers will have to sift through those applications and notify those students who would not qualify based on their household income.

Students who don't qualify will likely be told this summer, and the timing has colleges and state leaders scrambling.

Ben Cannon, executive director of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, said he understands the financial pressures lawmakers are facing, but the "significant narrowing" of the program is coming late in the game.

"This will create significant hardships for some students whose college plans were premised on getting this award and who will find out this summer that they don't receive it," he said.

Andrea Henderson, executive director of the association that lobbies and advocates for the 17 community colleges across Oregon, echoed that sentiment. "There's a great deal of concern right now," she said, noting that schools will hold orientations next month for incoming students.

When asked what schools can do to assuage concerns, Anderson said, "Good question."

"This has been fairly sudden," she said.

Portland Community College, the state's largest post-secondary institution, has its first orientation for promise students July 7. Promise students are required to attend one orientation, and the meeting is the first of several.

Roberto Suarez, PCC's Oregon Promise manager, said officials have been fielding questions and emails from students asking what is going to happen with the program. He said the school is having to "temper their expectations."

The promise funds come as the state is proposing $570.3 million in operating support for community colleges, a 1.1 percent increase over current spending levels.

With the state not stepping up operating support, Henderson said, programs for all students, including promise students, are diminished. "When you don't fund the community colleges at a higher level it means we have less classes to offer, we have less wrap-around services for students," she said.

The Legislature's Ways and Means committee, the joint body which oversees budget writing, is expected to discuss the higher education spending plan soon. An education subcommittee met Wednesday and signed off on the proposal to restrict certain families from qualifying.

Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, was the only lawmaker on the budget subcommittee to oppose the spending plan.

"I just don't think it's a promise if we can't afford to do it," she said. "I think we're over-promising to the kids of this state."

The changes are happening rapidly and as schools are on summer break. Henderson said she briefed school administrators during a conference call Wednesday.

The new plan shields the roughly 6,741 students currently attending community college with a promise grant from any future changes. It also gives the higher education agency the flexibility, as soon as this summer, to decline students who could expect as much as $18,000 a year in support from their families.

Higher education leaders stressed that the income guidelines are not set in stone. The $18,000 figure was calculated through the federal financial aid application, and amounts to an adjusted gross income of roughly $100,000.

About 20 percent of current promise students come from families with median adjusted gross income of $111,603 or greater, according to state records.

Though it's still under consideration, the state is estimating the policy shift could apply to 1 out of every 6 applicants.

The policy shift comes as other states are considering similar changes. Oregon and Tennessee were the first two states to experiment with so-called free community college, and both have received national accolades.

Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, said that lawmakers are committed to continuing the program. "It's attracted way more students than we originally budgeted for," he said, "which is a good thing, but it costs more."

The promise is currently available to students with at least a 2.5 grade point average who filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid application and graduated from school within the past six months. Students must enroll in class at least part-time.

The Oregon Promise is a last-dollar scholarship, which means the state chips in only after other scholarships and grants are subtracted from a student's tuition tab. Students must fill out the FAFSA, then accept any assistance offered, such as the federal Pell Grant for low-income students or the state's offering, the Oregon Opportunity Grant.

Unlike the opportunity grant, which is only available to low-income students, the promise drew applicants from students from across the financial spectrum.

In the first cohort of students, roughly 53 percent of recipients did not qualify for the full Pell Grant.

Some 75 promise students enrolled this fall came from families with a median adjusted gross income greater than $238,000.

The program doesn't make tuition completely free. Oregon based the promise grant on the average community college tuition, roughly $3,398 per year. If a student chooses a more expensive school, or takes more than 12 credits of classes, they could owe the difference.

Cannon said while the program is not "universal," citing the other requirements for graduates, it is less distinctive from the low-income opportunity grants than originally constructed.

"It remains a last-dollar program, and it brings tuition for eligible students down to near free, still," he said.

Cannon said the state has tried to communicate to prospective students that the Oregon Promise's future depended on the Legislature. Lawmakers approved $10 million in 2015 for a one-year pilot project. Future years were not guaranteed, but that message may not have reached all students, he said.

Suarez, the PCC program director, said he was looking forward to the school year. With one year of administering the program, year two would've been a time to tweak and learn from past mistakes. Now things will be "rockier."

"It looks like we're going to still be in muddy water for the time being," he said.


-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen

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