Oregon state legislators said the students who attended the Oregon Student Association Lobby Day in Salem made a difference with their meetings and presentations.

Nine ASG members, including ASG President Bud Khuth and ASG Director of State and Federal Affairs Laurel Lawson, took the trip to meet with legislators and talk about issues that included the Student Childcare Program, the OregonOpportunity Grant and tuition and state funding. “Basically what we’re doing here is we’re asking our legislators and lawmakers to support higher education through the Oregon Opportunity Grant, student child care as well as general funding for community colleges and universities,” Lawson said.

The student lobby was organized by the Oregon Student Association (OSA), of which Mt. Hood Community College is trying to become a member. Khuth said, “We’re (MHCC) unofficially part of OSA, pending our budget. It looks like we’ll be members in the next academic year.”

The students spent the morning and afternoon meeting with legislators and at noon there was a rally on the capitol steps where Senators Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton) and Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) and Representative Billy Dalto (R-Salem) spoke to the students

A major issue for students attending was increasing the amount of the Oregon Opportunity Grant, the state’s only need-based student aid program. Currently, 70 percent of eligible students receive funds from the grant, which covers 11 percent of their education costs. Many legislators were supportive of increasing the amount of the grant to help more students and the OSA’s goal of making the grant available to part-time students as well.

Senator Walker said, “I strongly support the Oregon Opportunity Grant. It was called the Oregon Need Grant when I got it in 1974 when I first went to college, I came out not owing a dime because of the grant, scholarships, work study. All those things were so important to me as a low income student. I would never have gotten my education without it.”

The problem is not a lack of support from legislators, but a problem of funding. Lawson said, “It being a tight budget year, there’s not a lot of money, so we’ve got to be out here making our cause known and getting money for our schools.”
Senator Frank Shields (D-Portland), who is on the MHCCD Board, says of the problem of adequately funding all the programs mandated, “It’s enough to make you pull all your hair out,” and “If it were an easy answer, we’d already have come up with it.”

Tuition and state funding is an issue on many students’ minds. Khuth said he wants to “get more students involved in what’s going on in Salem. In the last three years, tuition (at MHCC) has gone up an average of $7 a year. Just throwing out the numbers gets people more aware of what’s going on and how alarming the situation is.”

The Student Childcare Program is another topic discussed in meetings. OSA is asking lawmakers for an increase in state funds so more student-parents can earn degrees. OSA also wants the program to be moved from the Department of Health and Services to the Oregon Student Assistance Commission (OSAC).

Senator Ryan Deckert (D-Beaverton) praised the students for coming to Salem to be a part of the process, telling the students gathered, “I’ve stood in your shoes before. And if you ever wonder if it makes a difference to come here and take a day off from school, I can tell you everything you’ve achieved. The fact that the governor has prioritized higher education, prioritized access to higher education, is all because you painted that sign, you put the stick in your hand and you came here and you said ‘I want results and I want them from my elected officials’, and it’s making a huge difference in those two chambers right now.”