As student debt and the cost of higher education continues to rise, the past year has seen the rise and fall of two different proposals: Measure 86 and Pay It Forward.

Measure 86, which would have created a state fund to aid Oregon students pursuing higher education and allow the state to incur debt in doing so, did not pass during elections on Nov. 4.

Pay It Forward is a proposal that offered students free tuition while attending college by paying a percentage of one’s income back after graduating, and went unsupported by Oregon’s higher education board.

Jim Brooks, the director of financial aid and scholarships at the University of Oregon, credits the demise of Pay It Forward to multiple factors.

“It doesn’t make clear that it would just defer tuition,” Brooks said. “You still have room and board, you still have to buy books, you still have to pay for those things.”

School funding without tuition was another issue that needed fixing, Brooks said.

“How would the schools then survive?” Brooks added.

At the University of Oregon, full-time tuition, estimated as 15 credit hours for undergraduate resident students, has risen from $5,570 in 2004 to $9,918 in 2014, according to records from the Oregon University System.

Federal and state aid have not risen proportionately, which have increased the cost of higher education for students in Oregon.

For example, according to the Office of Student Access and Completion, in 2004 the maximum award for the state-funded Oregon Opportunity Grant within the Oregon University System was $1,482, which covered 26.6 percent of tuition at the UO. This year, the Oregon Opportunity Grant amount is $2,000, which only makes up about 20 percent of tuition.

Bryce Keicher, a sophomore majoring in international studies, applied for 150 scholarships during her senior year of high school.

“My whole senior year I committed completely to applying to scholarships cause I couldn’t go to college without them,” Keicher said.

Keicher has funded her entire education through grants and scholarships.

Jacob Bieker, an incoming freshman, was awarded the Stamps Leadership Scholarship last spring.

The Stamps Scholarship is a partnership between the UO and the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation. It covers tuition and fees, room and board and $12,000 of enrichment funds for the recipient to pursue academically-related experiences such as study abroad, research or unpaid internships.

According to Bieker, paying for college independently was expected of him.

“My parents told my sister and I that we always had to pay for our own college, because they had to do that too,” Bieker said.

According to Brooks, the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships has different goals to decrease the burden on students, such as growing scholarships including Pathway Oregon — a scholarship program for incoming freshmen who are Pell Grant eligible with a 3.4 GPA or higher. The university also plans to raise money for financial aid with its recent capital campaign.

Another proposal is a grant program to help students in their junior and senior year.

“These are students who may have been borrowing all along, who are running into issues with their debt or hitting limits,” Brooks said. Brooks cited a study published by EdCentral, which shows that the majority of students who default on their student loans do not have a degree, and that those who obtain their degree generally manage to avoid default.

This program would provide $10,000 grants to juniors and seniors to give them that final push.

“It’s part of the goal to try to get students through all the way to graduation,” Brooks said.