The Barometer Online

Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Sam Leinen In this file photo from April 2005, students rally outside the Capitol building in Salem to support previous Senate Bill 769, a tuition equity measure which did not pass. Advocates for the policy change have introduced a new bill, which is currently awaiting a committee assignment.

More than 300 pink, purple, blue and red valentines were delivered to Oregon legislators on Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, in support of tuition equity.

The valentines were crafted at a conference for the Oregon Students of Color Coalition, an affiliate board of the Oregon Student Association, on Feb. 3.

"I wrote, 'To you, Valentine,' on the front of mine," said OSA Board Chair and ASOSU Director of State Affairs Megan Driver.

OSA is lobbying to pass House Bill 2705, a bill to allow certain students with undocumented parents to pay in-state tuition. Under the current system, students whose parents are not Oregon residents or are undocumented are required to pay out-of-state tuition.

Out-of-state tuition has cost up to three times as much as in-state tuition in recent years, according to OSA.

"Currently in Oregon, your residency is determined by your parents' residency," Driver said. "As soon as they [children of undocumented parents] get to college, they are unable to pay for it because they have to pay out-of-state tuition."

According to the legislation, the student - to be able to pay in-state tuition - must have attended an Oregon high school for at least three years, graduated from an Oregon high school, been accepted to an Oregon public university and shown that they are working toward residency status in Oregon.

Similar legislation has been passed in at least 10 states, according to OSA. Washington passed this legislation in 2003 and California in 2001.

"To me, it's common sense," Driver said. "If you grew up here, why should you pay out-of-state tuition?"

Similar legislation has been brought to Oregon lawmakers in the previous two legislative sessions. In 2003, it passed the Senate floor but died in the House Education Committee. In 2005, the bill passed the Senate Education Committee but was stalled in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

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