Open university doors.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Another national report has identified an unwanted consequence of Oregon's policy of neglect toward higher education: The state's flagship institution, the University of Oregon, is becoming a bastion of privilege. The state's minority and low-income populations are poorly represented at the UO, suggesting that the state is walking away from the democratic aim of using educational opportunity to fully develop its human resources.

The report comes from The Education Trust, a foundation-supported organization dedicated to narrowing the achievement gap that separates disadvantaged students from others. The trust surveyed each state's leading university, examining such statistics as enrollment and graduation rates for low-income and minority students. Each university was assigned a letter grade for social equity; the UO was given a grade of D.

The UO has plenty of company. No state's top institution received an A, and only four were given Bs. Across the country, universities have increased tuition and other costs beyond what many low-income and minority students can afford. At the same time, growing reliance on private sources of support has led to an increase in the amount of financial aid awarded on the basis of merit, while declining public support has reduced the amount of financial aid awarded on the basis of need.

"Between 1995 and 2003," the report notes, "flagship and other research-extensive public universities actually decreased grant aid by 13 percent for students from families with an annual income of $20,000 or less, while they increased aid to students from families who make more than $100,000 by 406 percent."

Merit-based scholarships and grants deserve a prominent place on a university's financial aid menu. They are the means by which universities attract top students, and are an important part of an effort to raise academic standards.

Yet merit-based programs must be coupled with financial aid sufficient to ensure that all students who meet high standards are able to enroll regardless of ability to pay. Otherwise, aid will go to students who could attend college without it, while financial barriers will keep others out of universities. Minorities and students from low-income families will be disproportionately represented among the excluded. This is what has happened across the country, and at the UO.

UO Provost Linda Brady told The (Portland) Oregonian that the trust's grades are based on outdated information, and she's right: The 2005 Legislature nearly doubled funding for the Oregon Opportunity Grant program, which provides grants to low-income students. Even at the higher level, however, Opportunity Grants are available only to students from families with annual incomes of less than $33,100 a year. Many Oregon families are ineligible for the grants but still can't afford to pay tuition and other costs.

The state Board of Higher Education wants to double funding for the Opportunity Grant program again over the next four years, with the goal of ensuring that no qualified Oregon student would be priced out of a higher education. Legislators should not simply regard this as a proposal to assist low- and middle-income students and their families. They should understand it as an investment in human capital that will be repaid soon after graduation. Each student excluded from higher education for financial reasons represents a long-term loss to the state.

The UO's grade of D doesn't just mean Oregon is close to failing its low-income and minority students. The grade means Oregon is close to failing itself.