Earlier this month, the University of Oregon Board of Trustees approved a $945 tuition hike for all undergraduate students next year, meaning a 10.6 percent increase for in-state students and a 3 percent increase for out-of-state.

UO students have had just about enough with how the administration is handling its budget issues. Every year, students have felt the burden of reducing a debt that they didn’t ask for. 

According to UO President Michael Schill, there are plenty of different routes students can take.

“I’m not saying it’s not hard, but there are choices,” Schill said. “Students can borrow money, they can ask their parents, they can work and ask for financial aid. The number of students who have no choice is actually low.”

If you are struggling to pay off your tuition, Schill said there is a way for you to make up for it, whether that means adding another job or increasing your student debt.

Claire Corbett, a sophomore dual-enrolled at Lane Community College and UO, took winter term off UO to work part-time and study full-time at LCC. Corbett did so because she didn’t have the choice to attend UO.

“There wasn’t another option for me,” Corbett said. “The loans I was offered weren’t enough to cover all three terms at UO. It was either go to community college and get my education paid for or don’t go to school at all.”

Corbett was a 3.9 GPA student in high school and believed if you work hard you will be rewarded. Corbett worked hard, but the only financial aid she was rewarded with was Oregon Promise.

Oregon Promise, which passed through legislation in 2015, is a state grant that covers most of the tuition at any community college in Oregon. This is an important step in ensuring students in Oregon have access to an education. Oregon promise requires students be Oregon residents with a 2.5 GPA in high school.

A similar program, Pathway Oregon, awards free college tuition to Oregon residents who graduated from high school with a 3.4 GPA and meet Pell eligibility determined by FAFSA. Unfortunately, Corbett falls short from that category, as her parents make over the salary threshold for Pell eligibility but don’t make enough to comfortably pay the rising cost of tuition.

Corbett saves about $5,000 a year by using her Oregon Promise scholarship, but attending part-time at UO has given her some benefits and advantages. Corbett was able to land a part-time job at a daycare through UO’s School of Education and has made the connections to compete in the school.

“I think UO has given me plenty of opportunities to succeed, but money isn’t one of them,” Corbett said. “If you’re struggling financially, I think community college is a great stepping stone in reducing your debt.”

Student debt lurks around every student’s mind when they take out loans. How much will I owe? Is it too much? How am I going to pay it off? It’s upsetting to think about being in debt without having a guaranteed career path, but President Schill believes that we shouldn’t be afraid of taking out loans.

“Higher education debt is the best debt possible. It’s about you. It’s capitalizing you to make more money so you’ll be able to pay it off eventually,” Schill said. “Right now, there’s this terrible reputation among young people that any debt is bad. The average debt at UO is around $25,000, that’s really not that bad.”

A $25,000 debt sounds easy for somebody who has a $660,000 salary. Schill would want students to do this rather than use alternative options, such as community college.

“The problem with community college is the likelihood they’re going to graduate is around 20 percent, whereas UO it’s around 70 percent,” Schill said. “I would hope students would stay here.”

Schill seems to believe in the age-old stigma that attending community college does not lead to success. It’s true there is a stigma, but not an accurate one. We were taught in high school that going to community college is like taking a step-down, but financially, you could get a few steps ahead.

Rebecca Murphy, a UO graduate, attended Portland Community College before attending UO where she studied sociology. Murphy believes that community college is a good substitution if necessary, and said that it helped her earn a degree at 20 years old.

“Going to a community college is not that different from taking classes at UO,” Murphy said. “The teachers are qualified and the courses are generally the same. And I saved my parents a lot more money than if I went to UO all four years.”

Community college shouldn’t be our first option, but right now, the state of Oregon is showing that it is actually the best option for those who can’t afford new tuition increases. We shouldn’t be afraid to step away from our comfort zone because, in the long-run, we might be thankful that we didn’t take that extra $10,000 of debt.

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The Emerald Editorial Board exists to provide the newsroom a voice on prominent campus issues. It operates separately from the objective work of our reporters, giving our organization a platform to create and continue a dialogue on campus.

The board’s members include Sararosa Davies, senior arts reporter; Meerah Powell, digital managing editor; Will Campbell, associate news editor; Kylee O’Connor, sports reporter; Mark Kellman, engagement editor; Cooper Green, editor in chief; Patience Greene, opinion columnist; Carl Segerstrom, opinion columnist; Billy Manggala, opinion columnist.

Tuition increased by 10.6 percent for in-state students and 3 percent for out-of-state students, resulting in a $945 per-year increase for all undergraduates.

With financial burdens such as low state funding for the UO, and the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) — a pension program for retired faculty, which will cost $7.1 million next year  — tuition increases seem inevitable to combat growing debt.

While there are challenges in balancing the university budget, other solutions need to be explored before UO places more financial burdens on students.

• Encourage donors to support investments in faculty and students: The choice of where to invest lies in the hands of the donor, but the university community can do more to influence its beneficiaries. Last October, Phil and Penny Knight donated $500 million towards building a 70,000 square foot science campus. While the allure of a shiny building with your name on it can be hard to pass up, if philanthropists were to invest a fraction of the funds directly into UO’s budget, the university could be out of debt tomorrow. The money could go just as far if it was targeted toward providing for students — promoting lower tuition, financing scholarships or, as the Knights have done before, endowing chairs and professorships. For example, Steve and Connie Ballmer donated $25 million in 2014 toward Pathway Oregon, providing more students with free tuition.

• Make the highest paid administrators take a pay cut: As student tuition is increasing, so are administration salaries. UO president Michael Schill makes $798,400 annually, according to the Register-Guard. This is roughly 50 percent more than the former UO president. To attract high-quality administration, universities need to offer competitive salaries. However, if the UO administration wants students to trust that education is the first priority, administrators should chip in their fair share.

• Take the burden off in-state students: Oregonians pay less in tuition than out-of-state students because Oregon residents pay state taxes that go toward public universities. Many students choose to go to college in their home state for financial reasons. The increase for Oregonian students could be enough for those paying out of pocket to leave UO.

• Focus university spending on students and faculty members, rather than construction: A new dorm. A new science campus. Better sports facilities and renovated classrooms. It’s almost impossible to walk on campus without seeing a crane or construction tape. Despite the state budget’s lack of public university funding, $100 million in state bonds were dedicated to Knight science campus over the next six years, according to Around The O. $83.7 million will be spent on construction and capital improvement this year, according to UO’s latest budget report. Updated facilities are undeniably pleasant in curating better study and living environments for students, and encouraging inquiring students to commit to UO, but what’s the point if tuition itself is unaffordable?

The tuition hike next year is inevitable, but students can still take action to sway the trend. Don’t underestimate your voice. Call your state representatives now to encourage them to push for more state funding for UO. Contact UO administration and do the same.

Another financial option, especially for students who can’t afford tuition hikes, is community college. Lane Community College costs roughly $4,155 per year for full-time in-state students and $12,644 per year for full-time non-resident students — that’s less than half of UO tuition, whether you’re in-state or out. Even dual enrollment — splitting your class load between UO and Lane — provides a more affordable outlook for students.

It’s clear UO has to assess its priorities: whether to continue spending on new buildings and administrators’ salaries, or to talk to donors, and the state, to encourage that money be spent on the entire reason for the university’s existence: its students.

The UO Board of Trustees made a difficult decision for the sake of the bottom line, but did they do it the right way? A university which promotes the “economic wellbeing” of students in its mission statement has taken one more step in the other direction by shifting the burden to the backs of those it seeks to educate.

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Donald Trump surprised both parties last Monday when he announced his intention to increase military spending by $54 billion, which is nearly a 10 percent increase of the total military budget.

Allocating $54 billion to military spending means that money has to come out of other federal programs. Trump has hinted that Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency are among the programs getting cut to accommodate for military spending, and he vowed to refrain from Medicaid and Social Security.

Many wonder why this proposal was made considering the amount the country spends on the military already. There’s no doubt that the United States has the most powerful military in the world, but do we need to be more powerful than we already are?

“We have to start winning wars again,” President Trump said at the White House Monday. “When I was young, in high school and college, everybody used to say we never lost a war. And now we never win a war. We never win.”

Our military spending is astronomically larger compared to other major nations. The United States spends approximately $600 billion on defense every year, which is higher than the next seven highest spenders in the world combined. To compare, the United Kingdom spends approximately $55 billion on its military every year, and we are only just adding that amount to our total budget.

The biggest question is, what is Trump preparing for?

According to Trump, the proposal was made to “rebuild the depleted military.” But $54 billion sounds like we’re getting ready for another war, not rebuilding. War should be the last option possible between nations, and Trump’s pro-war rhetoric sounds like we’re trying to pick a fight.

And if this really is to protect the American people, why is Trump cutting the budget for education and energy? These are important domestic programs that are essential to building a successful society. It almost seems like Trump has no interest in rebuilding our education system or improving our environment, which have suffered from constant budget cuts in recent years.

According to National Priorities, our federal budget for education and energy make up 3 percent and 1 percent of total federal expenditures, respectively. And we’re going to cut it even further? Until more teachers are out of jobs? Until our water is full of lead? Would the American people rather go to war than improve the future of our children?

For students at the University of Oregon, we’re used to hearing the words “budget cut.” As a result of cutting education spending over the years, our tuition has increased dramatically, topping off at a 10 percent increase for in-state students in the coming year.

With the rising cost of tuition and increased number of layoffs, we should be funding our education sector, not cutting them. 

The United States is 58th in the world in education spending. How can we call ourselves the greatest nation in the world when we don’t value our educational resources? Unfortunately, it’s not in Trump’s interest to help Americans this way. He plans to help Americans by keeping them safe with increased militarization, but sadly, that doesn’t contribute to our domestic progress.

As for the environment, we’re in deep trouble.

Donald Trump doesn’t have any intention to help the fight against climate change, with his cabinet and party mostly denying that it exists. He plans to cut spending on the EPA by 70 percent, leaving it with only a $6 billion budget.

Contrary to what Trump’s cabinet believes, climate change is the world’s biggest threat. According to Business Insider, the northern tip of Antarctica has reached a record high of 63.5 degrees.

If the Trump administration does not act on the rapid effects of climate change, we might as well say goodbye to a healthy planet.

We should be spending our resources on programs that benefit the American people, and right now, increasing the military budget does not directly affect citizens. His rhetoric suggests that we should want to win wars and go into battle, but he forgets that this state of mind is what kills soldiers, civilians, women and children.

Education should be our priority, considering that 21 percent of adults read below a 5th grade level. We should focus on clean energy and protecting our environment, but we’re not going to make strides with a 70 percent budget cut to the EPA.

At this rate, the future looks bleak for anybody who cares about the wellbeing of our country. Throughout his campaign, Trump promised America first. Right now, America looks very well on its way to becoming last.

Follow Billy on Twitter @billymanggalol

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Last week, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Secretary of Education with a narrow 51-50 margin, with the tie-breaker coming from Vice President Mike Pence. Education is largely under state and local control, but DeVos will be in charge of federal-level decisions and expresses many of the same views as President Donald Trump. 

There was a nationwide concern over DeVos after her Senate confirmation hearing. Her vague answers and lack of knowledge pertaining to the education system is troubling as she even failed to name the difference between assessing students based on proficiency or based on growth.

What does that mean for us? All of this is happening 3,000 miles away, but the decision to confirm DeVos could easily affect students at the University of Oregon. The U.S. Department of Education doesn’t just handle the federal budget for schools, they handle all matters of discrimination in schools based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

With DeVos as Secretary of Education, our civil rights could be at risk.

Financial Aid:

Many students were hoping during the presidential election for more government support in our education system. With DeVos as Secretary of Education, our hopes for a tuition decrease is more than likely gone. DeVos even dismissed the concept of free tuition, claiming that “nothing in life is truly free.”

Earlier this week, University of Oregon President Michael Schill announced that there will be a 10.6 percent tuition increase for in-state students and a 3 percent increase for out-of-state students, which means Oregon residents will have to cough up about an extra $1,000 to attend the school. Although it’s not a result of confirming DeVos, this shows that students are already in financial struggle before the DeVos era has even begun. 

Will DeVos help us out financially? Probably not. Although 90 percent of students in America go to a public school, her support for private and charter schools hints at who she will be focusing her attention on during her time in the Trump administration.

What does that mean for students at the University of Oregon? Are we going to be alienated even further by our government? DeVos hasn’t named her plan yet, but cutting our funding further can mean the university will lose resources such as faculty members, courses, majors and students as well.

Title IX:

In 2011, the Obama administration expanded Title IX of the Education Amendments Act to require college campuses to take an active role in combatting sexual assault. When asked if DeVos would uphold the law, her answer was unsettling: “Senator, I know that there’s a lot of conflicting ideas and opinions around that guidance – I would look forward to working together to find some resolutions.”

For a campus like the UO, this is bad news considering how much our student body focuses on protecting students from sexual assault. Title IX is a procedure and a list of requirements that colleges must follow in response to a sexual assault case. Some of the requirements include:

• If an assault is reported, the school must conduct an investigation
• Ensure confidential reporting
• Issue students, parents and teachers a specific procedure on how to respond to sexual assault, such as where to go and who to report to
• Provide appropriate accommodations to survivors

If DeVos revokes the law, which seems more likely than not, government funding toward combatting sexual assault and institutional support for victims of sexual assault will drastically decrease.

This is troubling for students at the UO because many of students advocate for campus sexual assault education. During orientation week, every student at UO watches a play put on by the Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team about identifying sexual assault and how to ask for consent. Revoking Title IX would make it harder for students to learn about their rights and responsibilities in terms of sexual assault. 

While Obama’s administration was celebrated for Title IX in 2011, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education responded differently. In several cases, FIRE, a conservatively biased group, has challenged the measure and protected the rights of men accused of sexual assault. They believe that colleges should not be adjudicating in response to rape charges, claiming schools are not suited to judge felony claims.

The problem? DeVos has donated to the organization multiple times.

The UO is home to many sexual assault survivors and students of the LGBTQIA+ community, who have historically been vulnerable to adjudication involving sexual assault. DeVos is against sexual assault but has not admitted that it is a problem on college campuses, despite the fact that one in five college women are sexually assaulted.

The bottom line is, students nationwide will have to watch out for their educational rights while Betsy DeVos is our Secretary of Education.

The post Manggala: Education pick could be disastrous for Oregon appeared first on Emerald Media.

Earlier this week, I had to warn my mother about going to the mosque this weekend. The mosque is her safe place, where she meets with friends and prays with family. I had to tell her to be careful about going to the place where she worships. I’ve never thought that I had to fear my government like this.

Trump’s order to bar citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya and Sudan was made with the intention to help protect Americans from terrorists. Instead, it kicks around Muslims who do not have the bureaucratic representation to kick back.

Haytham Abu Adel, an imam at the Eugene Islamic Center and a leader of the Muslim community, was born and raised in Yemen, one of the countries currently banned. He studies entrepreneurship at the University of Oregon and has lived in Eugene for five years with his wife and children. He worries he may not be able to take his children back to his home country for a long time.

“I wish I could see my family. I have my two kids and they’re U.S. citizens,” Abu Adel said. With the ban in effect, Abu Adel would not be able to return to the U.S. from Yemen for his studies, but his children would. “I can’t take my kids to see my family. I don’t want them to live in such a crazy environment.”

Abu Adel constantly worries about his family members in Yemen, and is worried that U.S. aggression towards the country will only cause more pain for any side.

“To have this kind of battle is not good for anybody,” Abu Adel said. “It only builds more hate inside people. It’ll encourage people from those hate groups to hate even more.”

I fear that all of this media attention against terrorism will provoke more terrorists, and not from the Middle East. Hours within the executive order, a mosque in Texas was burned down in the middle of the night. Days later, a white male inspired by the alt-right shot and killed six people and injured eight at a mosque in Quebec City. Does anybody really think they’re safer than they were before?

The recent raid in Yemen is the first military offensive ordered by Donald Trump since he became president. The order, meant to recover intel from Al Qaeda, resulted in the death of Chief Petty Officer William Owens, the death of the 8-year-old daughter of American-born Al Qaeda member Anwar al-Awlaki and approximately 30 civilians, including 10 women and children. Trump called the operation a success but gave no details.

“This ban, this war, it is not humane. It separates families,” Abu Adel said. “One of the reasons we live is for family, and I can’t see mine. What’s life worth without family?”

Although ISIS and Al Qaeda have territories in places like Yemen, the amount of American citizens killed by a terrorist from any of the seven nations: zero. Many terrorist attacks in America are caused by American citizens. We can’t forget the Charleston church shooting, Sandy Hook, Pulse Nightclub, the Dallas sniper, Aurora movie theater and Umpqua Community College, all carried out by U.S. citizens over the past five years, totaling over 100 deaths. Many of these shootings are carried out by white males, but I don’t see us banning them anytime soon.

Trump did make exceptions on which Muslim-majority nations could enter the U.S. freely. Coincidentally, these are nations that he has business ties with: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, etc. This leads to the idea of how much of Trump’s policies are affected by his business interests. As a citizen, you have to ask yourself: does Donald Trump care about protecting you, or protecting his assets?

In these predominantly Muslim nations, Donald Trump plans to prioritize Christian refugees over Muslims, with the belief that Christians have had it “very tough.” Both religions have faced the terror of war, but prioritizing Christians over Muslims questions faith equality in the U.S. Do we prioritize Christian refugees because their faith aligns with a majority of America’s? Is Islam welcomed in America?

If you fear Muslims solely for their beliefs, then these things might be true about you: you don’t understand the religion or you’ve never met a Muslim in your life, or both.

Muslims are peaceful people, but just like Christianity and Judaism, they have radical outsiders. Refugees are the innocent victims of war. We’re afraid of being attacked? These people were already attacked by America and jihadists, their homes destroyed, their old lives in ruins — who are we to turn away people who have lost everything due to a war that we participated in?

Donald Trump’s refugee ban and travel restrictions go against the very idea that this country was founded upon. This country was built by immigrants. It was built by dreamers who left their home to make a better life in America. It was built by refugees who feared their own war-torn nation and looked to America for solidarity and acceptance. We’re supposed to be the melting pot. We’re supposed to be the land of opportunity and prosperity.

Currently, we are the land of cowards.

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2017 welcomed students and faculty with posters, banners and stickers that all had the famous 95_, a number that all students, staff and faculty have on their University of Oregon IDs. Wherever you went, the 95_ was there. It followed you to your classroom, your job, your favorite corner to eat lunch in and your favorite corner to hide from responsibility.

Along with the 95_ came its slogan: Reset the Code. Now we all had to ask ourselves, “What the hell is Reset the Code?”

The ambiguous signs created quite a buzz for the first week of classes. But when you got curious enough to ask somebody, you most likely got an “I don’t know” from most of your peers. Unless you checked out the website, you pretty much didn’t have a clue what was going on. Some of us kept curious, some of us went on.

Jesus Bonilla, an Economics major at the University of Oregon, was one of those students who wasn’t convinced by the campaign’s promotion and believed that Reset the Code was an advertisement that was disconnected from the university.

“It almost felt like I was attacked by ads,” Bonilla said, believing that the university’s strong support for businesses was the reason for the ads. “I bet a lot of people on campus heard of Reset the Code, but don’t know what it is.”

This was the chief problem for the campaign. Many students saw it, but didn’t connect the 95_ with its enigmatic message.

Having to wait and anticipate information is something that millennials aren’t exactly used to. In this day and age, we can access almost any piece of information in seconds. When students have to wait days or weeks to learn about Reset the Code, they’re bound to lose interest quickly.

Kiana York, a Human Physiology major, was well aware that the 95_ was about her and every student, but wasn’t aware of its message until she read one of the banners carefully.

“I didn’t completely understand the signs, but I knew it was something about respecting others,” York said. “It felt like it was trying to support diversity.”

York wasn’t wrong. As the first week of classes went by, students were beginning to find out a vital part of its mission: mutual respect. Reset the Code was vaguely telling students to stand up to social injustice, but the campaigns’ discreet strategies didn’t make that completely visible at first.

“I support it. I think we do need to raise awareness and stand up for diversity,” York said. “The project feels like it’s on its way, but it doesn’t feel complete just yet.” York hopes that the campaign will succeed considering its relevant message on our campus.

Of all the banners and stickers that flooded the campus, nothing caught the public’s eye like the video posted on Reset the Code’s Facebook page. The video had 32,000 views within the first week it was posted. And just like that, Reset The Code was nationally recognized.

The video showcased Tylynn Burns, director of Reset the Code, handing her friend Natasha Campbell slips of various racial remarks used against her as a black woman. As Campbell read the notes, the two women bravely showed their emotional connection to each other, and it was clear to us that Reset the Code was trying to draw attention to an important problem: injustice still exists, and we have to do something about it.

“Many students are against hate, but they don’t know how to show support for people who receive hate,” Burns said. “When you don’t stand up for someone, you take away the perception that we are a great school that respects everyone. We thought it was important to create this discussion.”

Burns realized throughout the campaign that some students were skeptical with being kept in the dark for awhile.

“It frustrated people, they didn’t want to be part of something they don’t know,” Burns said. “But it did get people talking about it, and I think it really hit people when we revealed the mission was about mutual respect.”

Mutual respect is a tricky term. Naturally, it’s hard for us to mutually respect someone who is on the other side of the political spectrum, or somebody who shares different values and judgments. According to Burns, Reset the Code is an attempt to recognize each other as humans and not just by our political party.

“This is going past politics. We may have differences, but we still have to respect each other,” Burns said. “Once we start disrespecting each other’s opinions and differences, that’s when we start to lose mutual respect.”

It seems like common sense, right? That we should be standing up for each other and rejecting complacency? It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. But alas, in 2017, we are still having to fight injustice right here on our very campus.

On Wednesday morning, President Schill notified all students and faculty members that they have decided to keep the name of Deady Hall, a name that was associated with a supporter of slavery.

It’s injustices like this that Reset the Code is fighting against. Keeping a building named after a racist is an injustice against African-American members of our school. Although Schill has agreed to construct a Black Cultural Center for UO students, keeping the name of somebody who was pro-slavery is a piece of injustice that deeply affects people of color on our campus.

This is where people who didn’t support Reset the Code originally can understand its mission now.

“Supporting our mission is more than just checking a box, there are serious things going on right now,” Burns said. “How are you going to support the marginalized members in your community?”

Reset the Code may not have gotten our full attention, but it did do something completely necessary: revitalize the conversation against injustice.

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