Online Exclusive: Feeling the squeeze

Earlier this month Portland State received a TRIO grant of $1.85 million to help disadvantaged students get by in school. I was happy to hear that another handful of students were going to have a better chance at getting their degree. I was glad someone was being thrown a bone in a time when tuition is rising and students everywhere are flipping the couch cushions searching for spare change.

However, something bothered me. I could not stop thinking about the word “disadvantaged” because I don’t know who it is who actually has an advantage these days. Many PSU students would not be in class today if it were not for loans or scholarships.

The first step when many people apply for college, or any secondary-education program, is financial aid. There are very few people who can actually pay out of pocket for college.

According to a CBS news article, some students are feeling the financial pinch more than others. The University of California, for example, has seen tuition increases of up to 30 percent, and students are paying around $10,000 in-state. Luckily, closer to home, the University of Washington has seen increases of only around 14 percent.

Compared to those numbers, it’s comforting to know the Oregon University System only raised tuition 6 percent this year and residents expect to pay around $7,000 for the entire academic year. Even $7,000 feels daunting when you have to pay it four times over after you graduate.

Still, the increases have been enough to get students mobilized. PSU students protested the tuition hikes on March 4 this year, according to an article by The Oregonian, alongside students from other public universities in the state as part of National Day of Action.

The point is that just because someone grew up in a typical American suburb doesn’t mean they have a big pile of cash sitting around waiting to be spent.

Not to say that the TRIO grant is not inclusive by any stretch, but simply the term “disadvantaged” seems to imply that somehow other students are so privileged. College is expensive for everyone, and many students in college have no choice but to accept a mountain of debt if they want to attend.

When you apply for financial aid to attend school, a check is done to see what your income or your family’s income is, and to determine based on that information what the family’s contribution will be. This is referred to as “need,” so if your family has a high income then the need is going to be much lower, and therefore there will be few options available for you other than unsubsidized loans.

The problem with need calculation is that just because you or your family may earn decent money and are fortunate enough to only need one job, that does not mean that anyone in your family has a couple thousand dollars lying around to pay for college. Many people have debt from any variety of things such as medical expenses, car payments or mortgages. It is easy to forget that not all debt is a result of reckless spending. Life happens, and it can get a little expensive at times.

So between the tuition increases, financial aid struggles and a recovering economy, the result is a lot of students pulling their own weight through college. Nobody has any particular “advantage” over anyone.

Here at PSU, students try to be versatile and do what they need to do to make ends meet.

Students often work at least one job to help support themselves. Others work to receive or maintain scholarships. Many students attend classes at Portland Community College, where tuition is lower and they can work on their degree without totally breaking the bank.

While it would be wonderful to see an end to the seemingly endless wave of budget cuts and tuition hikes, there is little we can do besides vote on the issues and try to find ways to save as much money is possible, both as a university and individually as students.

Luckily, grants such as the TRIO and other measures are there to help some students get by, and the more grants like this, the better. It is important, though, to bear in mind that we’re all in this together for the most part, and paying for college is a challenge for everyone.