Due to a student campaign that has been running for the past two years, there could be changes to how your college tuition fees are paid. What started as a University of California-Riverside movement so that tuition fees are paid after graduation is now a real possibility in at least two states.
The plan would see students paying 5 percent of their salary for 20 years after graduation instead of relying on large loans and grants. This would relieve students of some of the burden of tuition fees, which have been steadily rising due to state budget cuts.
“Fix UC” started in February 2012 with an idea that seemed crazy at the time seemed crazy, as they planned to entirely overhaul the funding of the public university system. Oregon legislature, recognizing the appeal of the idea, approved a bill earlier on this month that demanded that a pilot program be tested where students would not pay a cent of their tuition fees until after their graduation. This would likely be a program where graduates would pay around three percent of their annual salary towards their tuition fees for approximately 20 to 25 years.
Oregon is not the only state to approve of this idea. Two state lawmakers in Ohio wish to follow the same path and have called for a bill to study the delayed tuition fee plan. Demand for this type of payment is not limited to these two states, and, in fact, a petition, hosted by The Nation, calls for more states to consider similar legislation.
“Eliminating tuition and loans is a game-changing proposition with the potential to drastically change the way we think about higher education,” Chris LoCascio, president of Fix UC, told The Huffington Post. “It was always our goal for the model to spread and be adapted for other institutions, and I’m thrilled to see such growing support for it across the country.”
However, critics have claimed that the plan will affect the successful the most, as they will end up paying a great amount for their college education since their annual salary will be higher.
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