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Believing that higher education isn't a right is an idiotic notion.  How can you live in this society and not recognize the way that having other educated citizens impacts your daily life.  

They pay far more taxes, vote more, volunteer more, and promote a higher level of discourse.  Having college educate neighbors impacts my daily life.  I don't want to have a racist or sexist neighbor - higher education works to improve the quality of the content of the character of it's students.  

How can you not recognize that the higher education system impacts your life regardless of whether or not you're a student.  I want to live in a strong economically diverse state, where students come out of college with an entrepreneurial spirit and give back.

And regarding the types of degrees.... I know far too many people who are madly successful that have "worthless degrees" like philosophy or english to buy the argument that tech degrees are all that we should offer.  Going to college is not just about getting a job, it's where you become a more well rounded person and learn how to think.  That can be done in a host of disciplines. 

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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How I see it...

The students are some of the best lobbyists in the state, and they get the legislature to hold tuition down, but the legislature doesn't reciprocate with increasing funding.  The cost of providing higher education is a REAL cost that you can't just ignore, so with these artificial "hold downs" that are basically just the legislators trying to stay in office (the primary power of the Oregon students is their ability to hold legislators accountable through voting- after all, they don't have any money to donate to campaigns), as a result of this messed up system public higher education just continues to become emaciated.  

The answer is to give the entire system the flexibility to control tuition/major decisions.  Students might freak out about the lack of control over tuition, but the truth is that the people who work in higher education aren't twisting their mustaches and plotting anything evil... they are passionate about helping people go to college.  Trust them with the ability to properly manage their institutions.

We should find more money, but if we can't do that we must let the entire system go to a public corporation model like OHSU.  The system/chancellors office manages to keep the focus on meeting the needs of the entire state, rather than just the goals of one institution.

The real problem here is the messed up tax system in Oregon, and our initiative system that has left us unable to properly provide for the services that are critical to the future of this state.  Until we deal with that, the best answer is for us to give flexibility to the system and have it be centrally controlled/properly managed.

Just my .02

(To uncommonsense-Using the GI bill to pay for college is a form of public support akin to the Pell grant, or the opportunity grant.  Anyone who got into college by using one form of public support and doesn't support extending that opportunity to others is...well... hypocritical.)

posted 3 years, 7 months ago
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