Free College!

If you’re going to college in Oregon, good news: you it’s likely you won’t have to pay for it!

…okay, yes, there is a catch.

Just recently, the Oregon legislature unanimously approved of a bill that would allow students to attend any state institution without having to pay for tuition. Instead, you would only be required to pay it back once you obtain your first job, after you graduate. The “Pay it Forward” plan  would drawn out 3% of your paycheck  for the next 25 years of employment. The benefit of this is not only does this relieve some of the financial burden off the backs of students, but it’s also an honest attempt in fixing the ever-growing student dept, which is currently over $1 trillion.

“Is that the catch then? That’s all?”

I thin the most obvious fact would be tuition- notice that I said tuition, not college expenses. The state only covers the tuition, so you’ll still be responsible for paying for textbooks, room and board, college amenities, and all that fun stuff. Tuition is really only a slice out of the pie, so this doesn’t keep students from having to borrow loans. And this is only for 4 years, so if you take longer, you’ll have to pay for tuition each semester past that. Also, since these institutions will be subsidized by the state, there’s very little to keep them from raising the cost of admission In the end, it only just balances itself out, so eventually,you’ll still have to pay the same amount of money as you did when you had to pay for tuition.