Oregon Public Broadcasting

Thousands of Oregon high school seniors are getting their financial aid paperwork in order this week.  And some are finding that this  year is a little different.

Oregon lawmakers put more money into a special grant program that middle and low income student can apply for.  But as Rob Manning reports, the program will not answer the question of how to pay for college for every such family.

The  program is called the Oregon Opportunity Grant and lawmakers didn't just boost the funding; they doubled it.  In addition to offering a bigger pot,  families earning up to $70,000 a year are now eligible. The limit used to be less than $30,000.

Christina Coy is a sophomore at Portland State University.

Christina Coy: “It’s going to make a pretty big difference for me, especially. This will be the first year I’ve been able to qualify. And because they’ve increased it, it will be quite a bit.”

Coy says her grant amount is going up by at least a thousand dollars.  The poorest students will get up to $3200 a year.

Christina Coy: “It means less hours that I’ll have to work. It means more time that I can spend studying and focusing on my classes.”

But Coy says that while she appreciates the additional money, it’s not going to solve all her financial problems. She says the new grant money can't  replace all her loans.

An hour and a half drive down I-5, Kate Peterson works as  the financial aid director at Oregon State University in Corvallis. She agrees that there are still funding gaps that loans often fill.

Kate Peterson: “The funding for the Oregon Opportunity Grant, the increase that has occurred, and the change in eligibility, is a very important first step in making college more affordable for middle-income families.” 

She says OSU is seeing lots of interest in the grant, as well as some curiosity about a new program.

Oregon State President Ed Ray produced a new promotional video touting the university's “Bridge to Success” program.

Ed Ray (from video): “Even as costs have risen, OSU financial aid officials have created the ‘Bridge to Success’ program, which, beginning in fall 2008, will ensure that tuition and fees are completely covered for 1500 Oregon students.”

Bridge to Success offers $6100 to students whose family incomes are low enough to qualify for a federal Pell Grant.

Money for books and lab fees is also available for poorer students. U of O has a similar program. And between the two schools, more than 3000 Oregonians could be receiving free tuition over the next five years.

Now, higher ed advocates are trying to get the word out, with radio ads like this one, for the Oregon Opportunity Grant.

Radio Ad: “These grants can be used at community colleges and independent and public universities in Oregon.”

But hold on just a second. The part about independent colleges needs a little more explaining. Students who are headed for private colleges will actually get less under the Oregon Opportunity Grant.

That’s because the grant is no longer based on what it costs to attend school -- it’s now  based on comparing a family’s assets against the cost of attending a public university.

It uses a “Shared Responsibility Model,” capping  grant awards at $3200. And that's  substantially less than what private college students had been able to get.

Chris Anne Warner is the financial aid director at Linfield College, where roughly half of the students are from Oregon.

Chris Anne Warner: “We have very much appreciated the state of Oregon and the moneys they’ve put toward the Shared Responsibility Model, but again, there is the downside, where we’re trying to compete and this amount of $3200 really does pose a problem.”

Warner says the new eligibility requirements will give aid to more families, but she expects Linfield will wind up losing money because of the $3200 limit. That means funding a private education will require more from the college, as well as from parents and students.

And perhaps no student has been more successful in finding creative ways to finance her education than Philomath High School senior, Kayleen Hannaway. She filled out lots of scholarship applications, including one for an online contest.

Hannaway is a straight-A student, and at first she thought she'd win the contest based on merit.

Kayleen Hannaway: “But then, they said they had too many qualified applicants, and so they chose a few, over 200, and decided they’d have the public vote. From 200 it went down to 64, and then it was like a basketball bracket, tournament.”

Hannaway garnered hundreds of votes, advancing her from round to round, until she won the financial-aid-meets- March Madness popularity contest. With it, came $20,000.

Kayleen’s guidance counselor, Beth Edgemon, says that contest is exceptional -- but she says there's still  a  lesson for parents. 

Beth Edgemon: “There’s random scholarships out there for students who are left-handed, students who are overweight. There’s just all this random stuff, you just never know who’s going to apply.”

But even with scholarships and grants, students are fighting an uphill battle against steadily rising tuition costs and interest rates on their student loans. At the same time, the job market is getting tougher for anyone without a college degree.

Education advocates praise the expansion of the Oregon Opportunity Grant, but they say stuggling college students are going to need a lot more help like this in the future.