By Chris Lazare
Oregon has come up with a plan to help provide higher education for free at their 7 state universities. Advocates of the legislation are calling it the “pay it forward” model. Students will be able to initially attend state universities free of cost. Upon graduating students will pay 3 percent of their paycheck for 24 years in order to help fund the program for future students. The model is partially based on the Australian model which has been fairly successful. Students will be able to enter college without the fear of being buried in debt by the time they graduate. Currently students who attend universities in Oregon graduate with an average of 24,616 dollars in debt.
