Policy

Oregon Considers Free College Plan

Rather than getting loans, students would have percentage future income taken

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Portland, OR – An innovative Pay It Forward, Pay It Back plan, unanimously approved by the Oregon state legislature, may ease the economic dread for future students wanting to get a higher education by essentially making college tuition free.

With recent student loan interest rate increases and tuition costs climbing steadily every year, a soon-to-be college freshman may find the expense just too much to bear and abandon the goal of a degree. But the concept of the Pay It Forward program would allow students to attend public universities tuition free and loan free.

In exchange, four-year degree earning students would have 3 percent deducted from their post-graduation paychecks for up to 24 years thereafter, reports the CNN. Two-year college grads would repay at a 1.5 percent rate and those who attend some college but fail to graduate would pay a pro-rated portion.