The Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities, Oregon Community College Association, Oregon Council of Presidents, and Oregon Student Association are sponsoring a press conference at 10am on Thursday, June 23, to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the Oregon Opportunity Grant and the Pell Grant. Speakers will include State Treasurer Tobias Read and students attending Oregon’s Community Colleges, Public Universities and Independent, Nonprofit Universities who benefit from these important grants.
Students will share their experiences as recipients of these need-based grants and the importance of broadening this support for future generations of students. Academic research shows additional grant aid increases enrollment and has a demonstrable impact on students’ ability to stay in school.
WHAT: 50th Anniversary of the Oregon Opportunity Grant and Pell Grant Media Availability
WHEN: Thursday, June 23, 10 am to 10:30 am
WHERE: Willamette University’s Ford Hall - Lobby, 900 State St. Salem, OR 97301. Link to campus map: https://willamette.edu/about/visit/pdf/campus-map.pdf.
WHO: Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read and students attending Oregon’s Community Colleges, Public Universities, and Independent, Nonprofit Universities who benefit from these important grants.
Increasing funding for the OOG is one of the most important actions legislators can take to provide marginalized communities with a realistic possibility of social mobility. Student financial aid programs disproportionately support BIPOC students, and we often hear from lower-income, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, rural, and students from other historically marginalized backgrounds the greatest challenge they face is financing their education.
Doubling the Pell Grant is also good policy. It has bipartisan public support, and will help more students earn a degree, get good-paying jobs, and graduate with less debt. Investing in the Pell Grant not only increases access to opportunity, it’s a proven strategy to improve student success and retention efforts. Since its inception, 2,386,279 Oregon students have benefited from $6,187,642,682 in grant funding.
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The Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities (“The Alliance”) is comprised of 13 private, nonprofit, independent colleges and universities in the state of Oregon. These institutions deliver high-quality experiential learning with high-impact teaching strategies. The Alliance is the collective voice of Oregon’s independent, nonprofit higher education sector. For more information, visit www.oaicu.org.
The Oregon Community College Association (OCCA) represents the seventeen publicly chartered community colleges and their locally elected board members. Founded in 1962, OCCA is an association whose purpose is to support the colleges before policy-makers and partners whose actions affect the well-being of community colleges across the state.
The Oregon Council of Presidents (OCOP) is a voluntary association comprised of the Presidents of Oregon’s eight public universities. OCOP was formed in 2016 to foster coordination and collaboration among the Oregon public university presidents and other university officials.
The Oregon Student Association is a statewide, student-led advocacy and organizing nonprofit. OSA was established in 1975 to represent, serve, and protect the collective interests of students in post-secondary education in Oregon. We represent over 80,000 students and work to make a quality education more affordable and accessible for all Oregonians.