Portland State’s Plan for 2016
When I saw PSU wants to place their hands in the November ballot of 2016 to basically include a tiny business tax on local businesses, I just questioned myself do they understand the amount of pain that their students had to suffer through just to get through school? As I was at work, I received an email from a Campaign Manager known as Peter Zuckerman. The email was focused on implementing a marketing campaign known as “Yes for PSU” that will include a tiny business tax for more funding, scholarships, advisors and to hire more teachers. I don’t think hiring more teachers and advisors will solve the problem for the long run, especially with the low employment rate and economy in the City of Portland. The “Yes for PSU” campaign initiative wants to implement a 1/10th of the 1 percent tax on modern-living businesses in Portland, Oregon. PSU believes with this new initiative that they want to pursue, they believe this campaign will raise $35–40 million a year. The other half of the money will be extended to teachers and advisors to support students to graduate from PSU. I can basically understand the student support with the advisors, teachers and tutors that are widely available on PSU. Student support is beneficial since students understand the core requirements of their major, educational programs and the effort it takes to graduate. I will include the link of the measure and the marketing campaign that was conducted by “Yes for PSU”- http://www.yesforpsu.org/the_measure_sub. This link includes the entire measure, supporters and a video that explains everything in full detail.
When I was a student three years ago, I was paying $2,000 for tuition, including paying out of pocket for course materials and books. I am just glad I graduated before PSU decided to increase the tuition as of next year. I can feel the pain of the students that had to drop out of college due to financial debt, tuition increase and having student loans on their shoulders. I don’t believe students should have to suffer this way because college should be fun, enjoyable and hopefully graduate to pursue a successful career. During my educational career at PSU, I was fortunate enough to have a wide variety of support from teachers, advisors and also tutors that guided me on the path to have a successful career. I really enjoyed the support I received from the Department of Communication and the disability resource center for disabled students on campus. These were two of the best resources that I was able to utilize during my educational career at PSU. I was able to receive support from teachers and teaching assistants on certain assignments, take my time on tests at the Testing Center at UCB, etc.
If you are a PSU graduate and you want to express your concern about this plan by PSU, then don’t hesistate to express your opinions. Here is a video that expresses the “Yes for PSU” campaign.