Financing

As federal lawmakers appear unable to make progress in the student debt crisis, state lawmakers in Oregon are moving ahead with a plan to make higher education more affordable and debt-free. The proposal, known as “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back,” is a unique approach to footing the climbing bill of postsecondary education today. The bill has been approved by the state legislature and is expected to be signed into law by Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber later this month.

What is Pay it Forward, Pay it Back?

According to the Oregon Working Families Party website, this new piece of legislation, officially dubbed House Bill 3472, offers access to higher education without accumulating large amounts of debt. Students attending public universities and community colleges would be able to do so without paying any tuition upfront. After the student leaves college or university and enters the workforce, these students would pay a percentage of their income directly to the state’s higher education funding.

Under the current proposal, students graduating from a four-year public school would pay 3 percent of their income. Those graduating from a community college would pay 1.5 percent of their income. Payments would be deducted directly from the individual’s payroll, much like social security taxes. The payments would increase or decrease according to the individual’s income amount and would continue for a full 24 years.

Pay it Forward, Pay it Back was the brainchild of a group of students at Portland State University in collaboration with

Choosing a college is an important step that can directly impact a student’s success. Once a college is chosen, the reality of paying for higher education begins to creep into the picture. By selecting a community college, students have already made a frugal choice for their future. However, even community college is far from free. These ten financial aid tips help you pay your way through community college.

Earn Credits before College

You can begin paying for college long before you even apply. How? By earning college credits while you are still in high school. Many community colleges now work with neighboring high schools to allow students to dual-enroll in both college and high school classes simultaneously. Many of these programs do not charge tuition to college students but offer the same credit for the courses.

Determine Your Needs

Before you begin filling out financial aid forms, ABC Chicago recommends you get a rough idea of how much money you will actually need. Take the total cost of tuition at the college you will be attending and add on living expenses if you will be living on your own, books, and other essentials. Subtract the amount you have saved, as well as any money provided by your parents. Now you have a ballpark figure of how much money you still need to come up with to pay for your entire education.

This video offers some suggestions for securing financial aid.

Education is one of the essential components to breaking the poverty cycle, according to studies. However, college completion rates for students from low-income households continue to be some of the most dismal rates nationwide. According to Spotlight on Poverty, just 34 percent of students from the lowest income bracket will even enroll in higher education. Of that number, only 11 percent will graduate with some degree. Clearly, this is not the pathway to the American Dream that our country’s leaders have envisioned.

If college completion rates are critical to raising families out of poverty in the U.S., something must be done to ensure more students from poor families are able to finish their education. This is the goal of a new three-year initiative from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the American Association of Community Colleges, in cooperation with the Open Society Foundations and the Ford, Lumina, Annie E. Casey, and Kresge Foundations. The Foundation Center reports that the Benefits Access for College Completion initiative is up and ready to roll at seven community colleges across the country.

About the Benefits Access for College Completion Initiative

The Benefits Access for College Completion initiative is the latest coordination to improve college completion rates by targeting low-income students. According to the website for CLASP, this initiative is designed to point low-income students to the services that will provide the financial support they need to make it through their college years.

Arizona is fighting an immigration battle that has become more than a little murky in recent months. With undocumented immigrants now able to apply for deferred action to continue to work legally in the U.S., the question has naturally turned to the issue of in-state tuition. Recently, those immigrants were required to pay out-of-state tuition rates, even at the schools in the states where they lived and worked. However, the introduction of the deferred action program has some schools rethinking their tuition policies and some changing the rules on what undocumented immigrants must pay to get a college education in the U.S.

This video explains DACA and what it is.

New Action Plan Overridden by Arizona Governor

In August, shortly after President Obama’s new deferred action program was introduced, the governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, made her announcement. Governor Brewer signed an executive order for her state that mandated state agencies not to issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants in Arizona, even if they received deferred action to work in the United States. The order also stated that these individuals were to be denied all public benefits by the state, according to a report in the Tucson Citizen.

“As the [DHS – Department of Homeland Security] has said repeatedly…these individuals do not have lawful status,” Matthew Benson, a spokesman for the governor’s office, told the Citizen. “They are able

With tuition rising at community colleges across the country, many prospective college students today are looking for the most affordable options in higher education. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Education is ready to oblige the bargain hunters with a list of the most affordable community colleges in the U.S. Peruse the Department of Education’s list of deals to see if one of the schools is in your area.

The College of Affordability and Transparency Center

In an effort to bring affordability back to higher education, the Obama Administration has launched the College of Affordability and Transparency Center. This website offers a wealth of information about the cost of all types of higher education, with customized reports users can generate based on the information they wish to peruse. The center was created under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, according to U.S. News and World Report. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan explains that the availability of information like this is critical for helping students find the most affordable solutions in a college education today.

“We want to arm students and parents with the information they need to make smart educational choices,” Duncan told U.S. News and World Report. “Students need to know up front how much college will actually cost them instead of waiting to find out when the first student loan bill arrives. These lists are a major step forward in unraveling the mystery of higher education pricing.”

In addition to pricing