EDITORIAL
The Journal Friday, Nov. 6, 2015
A letter from your legislators U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) The following is an open letter written by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) concerning their recent education finance bill. The views contained are not necessarily endorsed by the Journal. Last month, on campuses across Oregon, students told us that college debt is suffocating opportunity. It’s preventing a move, a job, a car or a house. Debt is stifling ideas for the future before they have a chance to grow. Those students implored us to find real solutions to cut tuition costs and prevent the crushing debt that follows too many college graduates for decades. In Oregon, the average student graduating with debt owes more than $25,000, and that number only keeps climbing. Nationally, with out-of-pocket tuition costs continuing to fly past inflation – by nearly 24 percent from 1999 to 2011 – students and their families face the brunt of this burden with no end in sight. The key driver of tuition increases and skyrocketing debt levels is states dramatically cutting their share of funding for public higher education. In fact, researchers at Demos, a policy research organization, found that declining state support was responsible for nearly 80 percent of the rise in tuition costs between 2001 and 2011. That has certainly been the case in Oregon, where the state’s contribution to the per-student cost of public college has fallen from $5,587 in 2009 to $4,214 in 2014 – a decline of almost 25% in just five years. In the last state legislative session, the state increased higher education funding by almost 20 percent, which is great progress. However, Oregon ranked 45th in the nation in per-student support for public higher education in 2014. That’s why we introduced legislation to encourage states to put in a bigger share and reinvest their dollars into public colleges and universities. Our bill, the PARTNERSHIPS Act, would provide federal matching funds for states that agree to freeze or reduce the cost of tuition and bring up
graduation rates. The bill signals to states and colleges that the federal government wants to be a partner in making college more affordable. The partnership would work like this: The federal government would send dollars to states if states use those dollars to stop tuition costs from going up, or, better yet, if they use those dollars to bring down tuition costs at public colleges. Under our bill, a school could get up to $1,700 per student each year from the federal government if it meets those conditions. Even as we work to stop tuition from climbing higher, we know costs are already so high that many feel college is out of reach. So another key piece of the puzzle is ensuring that all kids – starting in junior high and high school – know that they will have the ability to repay their loans. In August, we introduced the AFFORD Act, which would give all borrowers that peace of mind. Our bill would make student debt more manageable by ensuring no borrower has to pay more than ten percent of his or her discretionary income on student loan payments. Any unpaid balance after 20 years would be forgiven. Everybody, from baristas to bankers, would be able to afford their student loan payments. In our country, a higher education is often the ticket to a good-paying job. Making college affordable is not only critical to the future of students, it’s vital for our state. It’s the surest way to grow our economy and the incomes of ordinary Oregonians. We must keep higher education – a central pathway to the middle class – open to all. Bringing down college costs is going to take effort from students, states and the federal government. But Oregonians have never been afraid of hard work. Our students’ future and our state’s require that we meet this challenge. Working in partnership, we can keep the doors to opportunity open to all Oregonians.
Musings from a woman on the edge By Katrina Penaflor | Managing Editor What even is news anymore? Also, what even is that last sentence I typed? It doesn’t fully sound right, but I feel like it’s the right thing to say—so I’ll say it. Anyway, what do I mean by my question? Well news, to me, lately is not at all what I would consider to be news. I was on Facebook (I know, terrible place to start my argument, but this isn’t quite an argument per say, just my “musings”) and the top trending story was about a reality show star wearing rubber sandals. Rubber sandals are what I would refer to as slides, you know those basic black sandals with a thick strap across the foot. That was the top trending story? This is news? If I step outside my house to take out the trash in my Nike slides, is a reporter going to stop me on the street while I’m looking like a hot mess and take my picture? Well no, that would never happen. And I get this was trending because the woman wearing the shoes is famous, but can people see how ridiculous this is? Literally almost anything else in the world would have been more of a news story than that. What about the recent debates? Let’s talk about Oregon
job loss. Any cats stuck in a tree—I would even consider this last crazy question as more newsy (I’m making this a word if it isn’t one.) W i t h the rise of pop culture and the lives of celebrities becoming more important to some than the events of the rest of the world, I feel the term “news” is quickly fading away. Or maybe not quite fading, it’s still fitting its definition of being noteworthy and providing information, but sadly the focus of what people see as important is shifting in a different direction.
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Who I hate today The cult of the angry and useless By Declan Hertel | Entertainment Editor “Internet comments are a roiling vat of toxicity and immaturity” is a constantly beaten dead horse that I do not wish to punish any more here. But I do think that comment sections (especially pop culture comment sections) provide a breeding ground for a certain type of insufferable human being: the caustic “always critic, never creator.” If you enjoy not being suicidal, never visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) message boards. All that is to be found there is a seemingly endless supply of people who hate the very concept of movies, yet pay actual, real money to complain about them. They go beyond what Nick Hornby calls the “professional appreciator” in his novel “High Fidelity;” it’s worse than that. It’s not that these people didn’t like the movie, it’s that someone would DARE to make a movie that wasn’t what they wanted, or God forbid, uses a device they’ve SEEN BEFORE. Nothing is ever good enough: it’s perfect or it’s worthless. And now they have a platform to inflict their opinions on the rest of us. I am by no means saying that people shouldn’t be allowed to air their grievances (kinda what I’m doing here), but it’s so easy now to satisfy oneself with being angry and useless. And it’s the uselessness that worries me: so many people have an audience to angrily flail at about others’ creativity that they have no reason to create something themselves. Plus, if you create something, there will be useless and angry people telling you that your art is worthless. So, to the artists: do what you do. If you have a vision, execute it. Do not compromise or throw out your vision because it doesn’t fit what someone else wants. Forget the naysayers, your voice is worth hearing. To everyone else: if this made you think “oh God I’ve been so angry and useless,” there is hope for you yet. Go create. If you don’t create, encourage those who do. If you want to defend your angry and useless tendencies: I can be reached by loudly proclaiming to everyone nearby, “My name is [your name here] and I deserve to be punched in the teeth.”