Report on Access and Affordability Working Group Meeting April 8 2004

I attended the Access and Affordability Working Group meeting yesterday, April 13, in Salem. Visitors were welcomed by Tim Nesbitt (the meeting started 20 minutes late), and since comments were coming from all over the room I asked a question and made a comment. It's a very interesting and informed group, relatively cordial to each other.

The discussion centered around the assumption that all students need post-secondary education, period.

Some topics:

(1)definition of who would qualify for the in-progress, newly- designed Oregon Opportunity Grant -- students choosing private schools for sure will be in the mix with those heading for OUS schools, but there's a lot od talk about the for-profit schools ( Art Institute, ITT, Culinary Institute, etc) being considered also. Many implications there.
(2) residency requirements also were discussed, under Access -- do children of aliens qualify?
(3) The award amount at various intitutions came under discussion, resulting with a bold plan of awarding a flat amount, to whoever qualifies, for use at any school. Not voted on or fleshed out, known to be a wild scheme, they still liked the idea of thinking big, which is to say an amount that would cover a year at any community college -- an amount that would of course represent a lesser % at OUS 4-year schools and of course a very much smaller % at, say, Lewis and Clark.

The Thursday meeting with the Financial Aid directors will be helpful to them, because they'll get information they need. It still is obvious they could use information only we can give them!

Solveig Holmquist

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