Debt-Free Higher Education for Oregon students!

Petition Background

HB2838 is a proposal for debt-free higher education for Oregon public university and community college students. Steady funding cuts to Oregon's public higher education system have caused tuition to skyrocket, leaving students and families with an unsustainable burden of student loan debt, and causing many to be priced out of a degree.

Currently, students are paying hundreds of dollars a month to Wall Street lenders, and much of that goes only to interest and fees. With Pay It Forward, there is no debt, no interest, and no predatory lenders.

Under the plan, Oregon public university and community college students would go to school tuition-free. After college, they would pay a small percentage of their adjusted gross income (AGI) for 20 years (1.5% for two-year programs and 3% for four years). Their contribution would go into a social insurance fund that would allow other students to do the same. Over time, the fund would grow, creating a stable and growing funding stream for Oregon's public institutions.