Letters to the editor for April 28, 2009

Oregon: Invest in your potential

To the editor:

Closing factories, slashing of state salaries, and horrifying budget projections overwhelm newspapers across the state. The most influential, but often overlooked solution is an investment in higher education, an original pillar of the American dream.

I don’t remember being told when I was young “keep your grades up and someday you can be a CEO” or better yet “keep your grades up and someday you can almost qualify for welfare and struggle to provide for your family.” Oregonians know the American dream. Across the state, FAFSA and enrollment applications are dramatically rising, but funding is dwindling. To deal with these increases universities are being forced to increase tuition. 

For first-generation college students in rural Oregon, higher tuition costs and smaller financial aid packages will only put off the dream of attending college or prevent it completely. Oregon can only benefit from an educated and industrious workforce that public institutions like Eastern Oregon University generate.

With rising unemployment rates, especially in rural Oregon, which has some of the highest numbers in the state, more individuals are looking to a university like EOU for a way out but it’s getting more difficult to find.

It’s painful to see so many good people out of work in the La Grande community. People that once had dreams of owning their own business, being a nurse or a teacher and that now have to put it off and explain to their children why they can’t help pay for their degree.

Oregon needs to start investing smart to put our state back on track. That starts with an investment in the untapped potential this state has.  

Katy Barnett

Student Body President

Eastern Oregon University