One of the most consistent takeaways from the recent Oregonian/OregonLive “College Conundrum” series was how much talent, promise and resilience Oregon’s high school seniors show. From Francisco Jose Gutierrez Jr., in Ontario to Yesenia Collins in Madras, students are overcoming both personal and pandemic-related barriers, rising to the challenge of high school and preparing themselves for life after graduation.
But as reporters Sami Edge and Julia Silverman demonstrated in the series, students are too often forced to navigate that path to the future without much guidance. Many, alarmed by the prospect of college debt and thwarted by complex or broken financial aid processes, are giving up on pursuing higher education, contributing to the 10-point drop in the percentage of Oregonians enrolling in two-year or four-year postsecondary education programs from 2011 to 2021. The declines have been sharpest in communities of color and among rural boys. Such decisions affect not only students’ personal career paths but the prosperity of the state as a whole.
Individual schools and districts provide varying degrees of support, with places like Lost River High School in rural Klamath County serving as a model for how to equip students with the tools and confidence for planning next steps. But the need for a statewide coordinated strategy to connect students to a post-high school plan calls for educational leaders to step up. Oregon – its governor, educational agency heads and legislators – need to match the promise shown by Oregon’s students with the opportunities that they deserve.
As the series made clear, we’re far from the ambitious goals laid out in 2011 when former Gov. John Kitzhaber and legislators set the aspirational target for 80% of young Oregonians to have a postsecondary school credential by 2025. Dubbed “40-40-20,” it called for the state to ensure that 40% of young Oregonians would possess a degree from a four-year college; 40% a two-year degree or similar certificate; and the remaining 20% a high school diploma.
As of 2021, however, only 56% of Oregonians, ages 25-34, have a postsecondary credential, Edge reported. The weakest spot? The tier of people earning a degree or industry credential from a community college. With one year left to go before the 2025 target date, however, few Oregon leaders even mention the 40-40-20 goal, one of a number of educational initiatives under Kitzhaber that were meant to build and support a coordinated system for education from preschool through college.
While skipping college may be the right call for some students, it shouldn’t be made due to insufficient coaching and advice. Those who want to pursue a career in the trades often find that they need education beyond high school to compete for coveted apprenticeships and other positions, as the series showed. Some districts are smartly partnering with community colleges to increase options for students, but there’s been little coordination on a broader basis.
Students also need help understanding how to afford college and ways to limit the burden. Community college tuition and fees are free, for instance – but only if a senior enrolls immediately the fall after they graduate and meets other requirements.
Untangling the possibilities of financial aid is a notoriously complicated feat, made worse by the disastrous rollout of a new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid application this year. These are areas that counselors can and should be working with students to understand.
And adequate funding of higher education to help universities limit tuition increases remains a critical component to make postsecondary school accessible. While legislators have significantly increased funding for the need-based Oregon Opportunity Grant, the fight for higher-ed dollars often gets lost in the argument over K-12 allocations. Oregon’s system of funding education, from the earliest years through college, needs a clear-eyed analysis of what is driving up costs and how to sustainably meet students’ needs.
All of these require someone willing to champion students’ needs. Unfortunately, in recent years, Oregon has gone backwards when it comes to keeping student outcomes as the top priority.
After Kitzhaber’s forced resignation amid an ethics scandal in 2015, the state saw a significant pullback from accountability and outcomes-oriented measures under his successor, Gov. Kate Brown. She made standardized tests optional, dismantled the powerful education board overseeing a unified public education system, kept schools closed to in-person instruction during the pandemic longer than most any other state and signed a bill that removed requirements for students to show proficiency in key skills to graduate. While legislators passed a new tax for funding education during Brown’s administration, the educational questions that leaders asked shifted from what goals Oregon should set to what standards Oregon should lower.
The findings of the “College Conundrum” series present an opportunity for Gov. Tina Kotek, education department director Charlene Williams and the new Legislature to change direction and re-establish ambitious goals for education – including higher education.
But that will require more from both Williams and Kotek. Responding to the series through a spokesman, Williams highlighted actions that students should take, rather than outlining what the state should do to ease the burden. She later pointed out that new diploma requirements, which call for a half-credit each of career path skills and personal financial education, offer the chance to provide additional help for students on financial aid and career pathways. Yet earlier this year, the education department initially proposed a set of rules that could let districts meet the requirements by incorporating material into existing classes, rather than create standalone courses, as legislators intended.
The good news is that there’s plenty of time for the state to insist that high schools ensure those courses are meaningful. There are plenty of examples of schools making sure their students have a plan beyond graduation that education officials can use to motivate other districts. It just takes leaders willing to champion their cause, not let schools off easy.
The series showed with inspiring detail how high school seniors are putting in the work and making the effort. The state owes them the same.
-The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board