It’s 6 a.m on a Monday. The harsh beep of Courtney Nagle’s alarm clock startles her from a deep, enduring sleep. She struggles out of bed, fills the coffee machine with off-brand grounds and begins to get ready for the day.
It’s 12:30 p.m. and Nagle has just finished her shift at Moss Street Children’s Center. She rushes over to Starbucks for an iced coffee just before she heads out to tutor high school students.
Now it’s 4:00 p.m. and Nagle is going to her first class of the day. The next four hours are dedicated to schoolwork, lectures, and discussions. She finishes the day with the setting sun and goes home to her husband, whom she has not seen once that day. With opposite schedules, Nagle works while her husband Colin is in class, and vice versa. The two catch up over a home-cooked meal, and Nagle is content when the day ends.
Nagle is a 23-year-old student at the University of Oregon who works in order to support herself financially. As a Communication Disorders and Sciences major, she must find time to balance her hectic lifestyle, all the while paying her way through college. For this Portland native, she must pay her rent, living expenses, and her full college tuition, all the while balancing a new marriage, student debt, and a struggling GPA.
Nagle, like many other students who are financially independent, has had to learn how to handle a rise in tuition while keeping up with other expenses. She has had to learn how to be proactive in finding outside resources to pay for tuition and to keep herself motivated in school despite the growing prices. With a rise in tuition and ultimately a rise in total expenses, Nagle and other students have struggled with balancing a chaotic work schedule along with a busy academic and social life. Financial independence calls for responsibility amongst these students.
Nagle has been supporting herself financially since she was sixteen. When her father passed away during her sophomore year of high school, Nagle’s mother moved to Vancouver, Washington. Soon after, Nagle made the decision to move-in with her boyfriend, Colin, and his family; however, not pleased with her decision, Nagle’s mother cut her off financially from then on.
Nagle works three jobs to support herself and Colin, including her part-time job at a pizza restaurant on the weekends to pick up extra cash. While Nagle’s husband originally went to school part-time and worked full-time, Nagle urged Colin to quit his job and focus on attending school.
“My major is not as demanding as his,” Nagle says of Colin’s Product Design major. At this time during her junior year, she picked up her part-time tutoring job.
“She doesn’t directly see herself as a mentor,” Colin responds. “But her background with kids and being an older sister to three younger siblings and partially raising them has made her into the person she is today.”
Nagle and Colin decided to get married while in college. They wed during October of her senior year, in the midst of an already busy schedule. At the time of the actually wedding, Nagle and Colin had to take off from work and school. “We passed [our classes that term], but barely” Nagle says, which wasn’t the first time that her academics suffered. Her work schedule interferes with the amount of time she has for homework and attending study groups.
Colin and Nagle both rely on loans and scholarships to support their expensive schooling. They had to take out a little less than $30,000 each in loans, but for Colin that did not mean solely student loans. He has had to resort to subsidized federal loans to continue to cover his cost of living. Nagle was lucky enough to see her scholarships increase with tuition increases.
Like Nagle and Colin, University of Oregon student Alex Larson also works to support herself. She attends early classes and works at the Annual Giving Program at night, sometimes up to five or six nights a week. As a music major and Oregon native, Larson has spent four years at the university to finish her degree, and she will be graduating in the upcoming June ceremony. She too has had to take out about $30,000 in student loans, but she also has to rely on food stamps to offset her grocery expenses.
Larson always knew she would be supporting herself financially once she went to college; her parents were willing to help her only if she was struggling and needed the money. To aid her tuition, Larson had a scholarship for the first three years of college, but she lost it during her senior year, causing her to begin paying out-of-pocket for little things such as books and gas. During the last few months of her time here, Larson has had to rely on her parents for rent money. Despite the hardships Larson has faced with losing her scholarship, she is ultimately grateful learning how to be financially independent.
“Being on my own really helped me grow into being more of a grown up rather than just coasting along not really caring about finances,” Larson says, who is hoping to pay off her student loans within the next seven years.
Tuition at the University of Oregon will increase as the years go on, continuing to affect students like Nagle, Colin and Larson. In fact, UO out-of-state students will see a rise in tuition in the upcoming school year, which was initially approved by the UO Board of Trustees on March 28, 2014 and later taken to the State Board of Higher Education. Starting on July 1, nonresident students will have a three percent increase in tuition, and all students will see a 16.4 percent overall mandatory fee increase, which the Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) manage. The fees are going towards renovations on the Erb Memorial Union and the Student Recreation Center.
July 1 will also mark UO’s departure from the Oregon University System, which includes the other six state school in Oregon. The University of Oregon will govern itself with a Board of Trustees in all business affairs and financial issues.
This does not mean UO is heading towards a private institution. According to a recent report from Professor Ronald Ehrenberg at the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, central control in the university system is the most prevalent form of governance, where 92 percent of public universities use this method of government.
“That’s one of the misperceptions a lot of people have,” Director of Communications at the University of Oregon Julie Brown says. “We’re still going to be a public institution. It’s just a different governing structure than we’ve had in Oregon.”
Julie Brown insists that the Board of Trustees is hopeful for more state funding in the future to lessen tuition increases. The University of Oregon does not want to see students in piles of debt; however, because state funding at UO currently resides at five percent–the lowest in Oregon–there are not many options besides raising tuition.
“One of the things that is important to us is that we maintain the same quality of education for students,” Brown says. “The best thing we can do to help students and their families manage debt is to get them graduated on time.”
The university has the shortest time-to-degree completion, with an average of four years and one term for students to graduate. Brown cites California state schools as a counter argument, where students typically take five to six years to graduate. Ultimately, she believes out-of-state students benefit from attending out-of-state schools, especially California natives at the University of Oregon who make up a majority of the nonresident students.
“It can still be less expensive to pay out-of-state tuition and go here to get the classes that you need,” Brown says.
While Courtney Nagle doesn’t pay out-of-state tuition, she still must find a way to pay off her student loans. Despite the cost, Nagle always new she would go to college, and now that it’s over, she is happy with her accomplishments. She is starting the Teach for America program at the end of June, where she will be moving to Hawaii to teach children in an impoverished school district. Nagle was drawn to the program because of the organization’s incentive to pay off student loans. If Nagle teaches for five years, all of her student debt will be paid off, but that requires a long-distance marriage.
“I’m nervous,” Nagle says. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.” But, Nagle and Colin already plan on reuniting in just a few months on their upcoming one year anniversary.
“We can finally go on our honeymoon,” Nagle says with a smile so hopeful you just can’t help but root for the couple.
To See Who’s Having the Conversation:
Reporting is all about the facts; and facts come from experts. In order to report on an issue, you must know who is discussing the issue at the moment. You need to do your research to see who is involved in the topic, which is exactly who you should be talking to. You need facts from prominent people who have the authority to give out such information. For example, if I was reporting on the latest shoe trend for spring, I would look for a fashion designer or an editor from a high-profile fashion blog to cite my sources for the latest trend. If you don’t have a reliable source, your name will be tarnished going forward in your career. People look at your report as a source for reliable information, so you need to give the readers what they deserve from trustworthy sources.
To Have the Conversation Face-to-Face:
In order to report all of these key facts as mentioned above, you need to interview. And I have learned that to get the best interview out of a subject, it is ideal to do the interview in-person. I have done the interviews over e-mail and have found that the answers lack depth and personality. You can’t ask on-the-spot follow-up questions via the internet. We are all busy and I know it is difficult to make time for a sit-down interview, but that is the only way you will get all of the information you need. Even if it is on Skype or Facetime or telephone, whatever you can do to have an instant conversation with someone will get you the best results. With an face-to-face conversation also comes the character traits of the person you are interviewing. It is best to notice how they talk–do they use big hand gestures? Are they poised? These are also ideal to note because it adds personality to the story that you will be writing. This type of information is usually not easily noticed if you do your interviews in front of a computer screen.
To Start the Conversation:
Now that you have researched, interviewed, and observed, you are ready to write your feature story. So, let’s go back to the shoe trend issue that we discussed earlier. You interviewed an up-and-coming shoe designer and noted their sassiness and quirky style. You have added all of these key ingredients to a feature story profiling the designer and his new shoes to be released for the upcoming spring season. You’re article will be published in the March issue of Vogue. It is your words that viewers are reading. You are starting the conversation for others about the latest shoe style. Your words have more effect than you might think. Your words are causing people to think about something different, something they might share with their friends and so on. Your words have importance. Somebody somewhere is reading them; all of your hard work has paid off. You have shared knowledge with others, and that is the bigger picture of reporting.
The debate over whether tuition should be increased at the University of Oregon is a growing problem amongst students and faculty. Key stakeholders for this issue will revolve around those who are for the tuition increase and those who are against it. The decision will be made in a few months by the Board of Trustees whether it will be increased or stay the same, so there is not much to be done until that decision has been finalized. Because there is no debate whether the meeting will happen or not, I want to angle the story from a perspective of who will be affected by the change–students and faculty. I will include important authority figures, as well, but I am going to make the story more personal by discussing how students are affected by a tuition increase and how faculty is affected by a tuition decrease.
A tuition increase can affect many different types of students. One student who would be affected by a tuition increase is senior and soon-to-be graduate student Alex Larsen. Ms. Larsen pays her way through college through a part-time job. She also works enough to fully support herself through housing and groceries; however, some students aren’t so lucky to be as financially stable as Ms. Larsen. Lora Bourdo has a part-time job, an internship, and is a member of a club on-campus. She does not have enough time in her week to work enough to support her tuition and housing costs. Ms. Bourdo relies on her parents’ and student loans to cover the cost of tuition. As a student who is not fully supported, taking out more student loans due to a tuition increase can cause an increased student debt for after she graduates, adding to the student debt crisis that many students currently face. Both Ms. Larsen and Ms. Bourdo are students who want to be clear of student debt, which is why they both work attending school; however, Ms. Bourdo will have student loans to pay off after graduation.
While a tuition increase could be detrimental to many students, a tuition decrease could be potentially harmful to UO professors. A UO professor who does not have teaching tenure may be up for a possible lay-off or furlough days in order to cut spending and make up for the lack of state funding. One example is Visiting Professor of Medieval Art and Architecture Rebekah Perry. As a Visiting Professor, Ms. Perry is not on the tenure track, and her position could be at stake if tuition remains the same.
Graduate student and current ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz currently sits on the University of Oregon’s Board of Trustees, which is the financial group who will make the decision for or against a tuition increase. As a student he understands the financial demands that tuition has on students, but as ASUO president and a member of the board, he also understands the needs of the school.Mr. Dotters-Katz gives the students a voice on the Board of Trustees, as he is the only student who currently sits on it. He will be a fair advocate for the majority, and he will be an important person to talk to in regards to which factor will be the most important in the tuition decision–the student’s needs or the school’s needs.
Jamie Moffitt, University of Oregon’s Vice President for Finance and Administration, is a key player in the fight for a tuition increase. As an employee of the school and the VP of Finance, Ms. Moffitt would hope to see the school improve, which requires financial advancement and therefore either an increase in state funding or an increase in tuition.
Student Rachel Gowland will also contribute to the student-angle of the story. As ASUO External Tuition and Affordability, Ms. Gowland is the main expert in the student body that addresses issues of tuition and the students’ ability to pay for that tuition. She will be against a tuition increase because she is an advocate for affordability amongst students.
Interview with Courtney Nagle
Courtney Nagle barely sleeps. She wakes up at six in the morning on weekdays and has her morning cup of coffee before getting to work at Moss Street Children’s Center. She spends her Saturday and Sunday afternoons serving pizza at Izzy’s in Eugene; and she finds hours in between to tutor high school students. Overall, Nagle spends almost forty hours a week working her three separate jobs. On top of her work schedule, Nagle finds time to attend school. She takes night classes until as late as 8:00 p.m. before she goes home to her husband, whom she hasn’t seen once that day.
Nagle is a 23-year-old student at the University of Oregon who works so much in order to support herself financially. As a Communication Disorders and Sciences major, she must find time to balance her hectic lifestyle, all the while paying her way through college. For this Portland native, she must pay her rent, living expenses, and her full college tuition, all the while balancing a new marriage, student debt, and a struggling GPA.
“I don’t even know how I do all of these thing,” Courtney says, joking about how busy she is. “And I still get sleep,” she pauses. “Sometimes.”
Nagle runs on a time schedule made possible by her planner and coffee. She drinks about two cups a day to keep herself energetic, which is evident in her chattiness and the way she talks with her hands to exude emotion.
Nagle has been supporting herself financially since she was sixteen. When her father passed away during her sophomore year of high school, Nagle’s mother moved to Vancouver, Washington. Soon after, Nagle made the decision to move-in with her boyfriend, Colin, and his family; however, not pleased with her decision, Nagle’s mother cut her off financially from then on.
Nagle came to the University of Oregon during the fall of 2010 living in an off-campus apartment rather than the dormitories like the rest of her freshman peers. She was unmotivated to attend optional classes and failed one that term, threatening her stay at the university.
“I was working, and I didn’t really know how to transition,” Nagle says. “[Getting an F] definitely motivated me to not get one of those again.”
The following winter term, Nagle received the best GPA of her college career. But, she was still dealing with the difficult transition into college. She struggled financially that term. She had to call her older sister and ask for rent money. “Send me everything you’re spending money on,” Nagle’s sister yelled into the phone. Nagle sent her sister her bank statements who then scolded Nagle for the amount of money she spent on coffee that term, “which I still do,” Nagle says about her coffee habits not changing.
Nagle was broke and had to find other resources for a steady income outside of her three jobs. She discovered the PathwayOregon scholarship program her freshman year open to all Oregon students attending a state university, and she was awarded different grants by simply filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). She also had to take out a little less than $30,000 in student loans.
“The only reason I found out about [these different scholarships] was because I was diligent. I was looking for places to find money,” Nagle says. “Most of that loan money was not taken out for school, but actually to live on.”
In the midst of everything, Nagle and her boyfriend Colin decided to get married during October of her senior year. At the time of the actually wedding, Nagle and Colin had to take off a few weeks of work and a weekend off of school. “We passed [our classes that term], but barely” Nagle says.
This wasn’t the first time that her academics suffered because of her chaotic lifestyle. Her work schedule interferes with the amount of time she has for homework and attending study groups, where she estimates that about 25 percent of her time is spent on her academic life, while she spends 50 percent of her time working.
Nagle’s husband Colin, who goes to the University of Oregon, is also financially independent. In order to see Colin thrive, Nagle urged Colin to quit his job and focus on attending school full-time.
“My major is not as demanding as his,” Nagle says of Colin’s Product Design major. At this time during her junior year, she picked up her part-time tutoring job to help support Colin and herself.
“She doesn’t directly see herself as a mentor,” Colin responds. “But her background with kids and being an older sister to three younger siblings and partially raising them has made her into the person she is today.”
While Colin still has another year before he graduates, Nagle is just a few weeks from graduation. She was recently selected for the Teach for America program, where she will be traveling to the main island of Hawaii to teach children in an impoverished school district. Besides her passion to work with children, Nagle was partly motivated by Teach for America’s incentive to pay off student loans. If she works there for five years, her student loans will be fully paid off.
Nagle has seen a steady increase in tuition throughout her four years. Her FAFSA grants have increased with the growing tuition, but overall her tuition has increased by almost $2,000.
“It is a state school, not a private institution,” Nagle says about the university. “I shouldn’t have to take out that much money in loans.”
As Nagle prepares to depart for her Teach for America training in Arizona in a few weeks, she is sentimental about her time at the university and about her upcoming long-distance marriage with her husband.
“I’m nervous,” Nagle says. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.” But, Nagle and Colin already plan on reuniting in just a few months on their upcoming one year anniversary.
“We can finally go on our honeymoon,” Nagle says with a smile so hopeful you just can’t help but root for the couple.
She’s smart, and funny, and sarcastic, and stubborn, and beautiful. My best friend has power; she walks in a room and demands there attention, which she gets instantaneously. She also is strong, sometimes too strong. She rarely shows her true emotions, and tries to show everybody how strong she is. But, sometimes she’ll let one tear slip to you and you know that she really trusts you. She loves pickles, and siracha on everything, even her ramen noodles. She laughs at all her own jokes, and can make anything sound fun. She’s my best friend, and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.
University of Oregon senior Alex Larson has been supporting herself throughout the past four years. This means she pays her rent, her car bills and other amenities, along with her own tuition. As an in-state student, Larson has first-handedly seen her tuition rate increase and has taken out almost $30,000 in student loans to support her way through her college education. By working multiple jobs and government supported food stamps, Larson lives a fairly comfortable lifestyle; however, she plans to tackle her student loan debt after she graduates in June and hopes to have her loans fully paid off within the next seven years.
Q: What motivated you to choose to support yourself?
A: For me, it wasn’t a choice. It was important I learn how to budget. My parents weren’t going to help me. They were only going to help me if I got into trouble. Since I had a scholarship the first three years, I was really able to be on my own. Without that scholarship I wouldn’t have been able to go to college and afford it on my own. Learning how to budget is a good skill to have no matter how old, or how much money you are making. I personally think it is important to be financially responsible because how else will you survive? This is the best time to really figure it out before you have more than just yourself to worry about. For me, being on my own really helped me grow into being more of a grown up rather than just coasting along not really caring about finances.
Q: Have you seen any tuition increases since you started going to school?
A: I have seen tuition increases, and especially since I lost my scholarship. I have been needing to set aside money beforehand so that I can be assured I have the money altogether.
Q: How did losing your scholarship affect you?
A: I knew my sophomore year that FAFSA was going to change for my senior year. I didn’t know how much it was going to change, though. Since my scholarship would give me extra money for living expenses, I saved a little bit at a time into a separate secured account. My overall fees continued to creep up over the years, and I was paying those out of pocket. So being able to save has been very hard the past year because tuition and books are so expensive. I have to be extra careful on what I’m spending my money on but also keeping in mind that I need to have fun as well. Being responsible and having freedom is good in my opinion.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in paying your way through college?
A: Being able to save for post-grad. It’s hard to save your money when you still have a balance on your student fees. I’ve been saving for post-grad about two years now. I have about $1,500 that I’ve put aside so that I’m not totally broke once I leave. Saving is very difficult when you are paying everything out-of-pocket. I do have loans, but that only goes so far. I’ve had at least $2,000 each term to pay and that’s been a real struggle to pay but also to set aside money to save for later as well.
Q: Was there any point in your college career where you sought outside help to pay for anything?
A: I’ve had to ask my parents to help me a bit when things got hard, but I don’t like asking because I feel bad and it makes me feel like I’ve been a failure. They have been helping me with rent for a few months and that has been huge. I absolutely hate asking for money, so the moment that I was feeling lost and broke beyond belief, I just had to ask. We made a deal, they would help me with rent and it would be a gift if I graduated on time. But if I didn’t, I would have to pay it all back. Motivation right there. So that’s the story behind the deal, and I feel that is extremely fair. They don’t want me to not be able to graduate because I can’t afford rent. So that was very helpful, and I am so happy for their support. For me, losing the scholarship was something that has been on the radar for a while. Since I knew both my parents were getting re-married, I was really able to gauge how much my living expenses were going to be.
Q: What are the positive aspects of being financially independent?
A: You learn so much on what you have spending money for. Also, building credit and being responsible with a credit card is a hard lesson learned too. I didn’t get my first credit card until last year, my junior year. Building credit in general is a good idea when you’re heading towards your adult life. If you have good credit, you won’t need a co-signer for apartments or houses. And learning how to keep good credit is important. It has really taught me to manage my spending to an amount that is affordable to me. After college, you are naked and will have to face these challenges first hand without financial aid to rely on.
Q: What advice would you give other students who are paying their way through college?
A: Keep doing it. And it’s okay to ask for help. I would recommend not taking out bank loans if you are looking for extra spending money because the interest rate is just so high. But making a budget, dividing your money into different accounts so that you can physically see how much money you have in each of your needed funds–food, rent, car, etc. This has helped me out so much. Also, try and save a little bit each month–even if it’s just $20 a week–and by the end of you will have accumulated more money that you would have had prior.
Sophia Clark claims she’s a shy person, despite her ability to be completely chatty and bubbly during our interview.
“Well, I was shy my freshman year [of college],” Clark explains while laughing.
Clark did not adjust well to her first year at the University of Oregon. As an international student from Japan, she was not accustomed to American life when she first arrived for her IntroDucktion session one week before school began. She spent her first few days in the dorm with just one other Chinese girl, who were both there before other students for the international student IntroDucktion. They ate their meals together, and lived a somewhat solitary life. The dorms were quite, and Clark had grown used to that.
But, move-in day for the rest of the UO freshman class began a week later, and Clark was anything but used to the loudness of the rest of her dorm-mates.
“Girls were screaming and running down the hall,” Clark said.
Her roommate also failed to make a good first impression. Her and her mom barged into the room with hardly a hello. They were unfriendly and unwelcoming on move-in day and did not even try to make conversation with Clark, who was already settled into their shared room.
Despite her roommate’s unaccommodating personality, Clark noticed that many other American’s were really outgoing. During the Week of Welcome parade, one girl came up to Clark:
“Hi,” she blurted out. “Are you Asian?”
“Yes,” Clark responded, stunned.
“I’m half-Asian,” the girl continued. “We are going to be best friends.”
The two girls continued onto Hayward field to finish out the parade and listen to the dean’s welcome speech, but Clark was still taken aback by that girl’s forthright comment about her race.
“That’s when I realized everyone else notices I’m different,” Clark said.
Sophia Clark is just another University of Oregon student: she grew up in a small city; she is studying journalism; and she speaks perfect English. But, she isn’t an average American. Actually, she didn’t grow up in America at all. Clark is a Japanese international student.
Clark grew up in Osaka, Japan. She attended a public elementary school and moved on to a private middle school and high school that taught in English and Japanese, rather than her elementary school, which taught only in Japanese.
But, Clark grew up speaking English. Her dad is American and her mom is Japanese. As an only child, Clark was never close to her Japanese cousins in neighboring cities. Even when Clark and her parents would visit her father’s hometown of Huntington Beach, CA, for every summer since she was four years old, she would not have cousins her age to play with. She was always around adults.
When she came to the University of Oregon four years ago, Clark finally had the chance to live amongst her peers. She learned to adjust to people her own age, but not without conflict.
Clark lived in the dorms during her freshman year. She resided in Bean Hall, one of the smallest dorms on campus. Her roommate was from Oregon City and had never met a foreigner before her. Clark recalls her roommate explaining who she was: “I’m a redneck; my dad’s a redneck; my whole family’s redneck.”
“I didn’t even know what a redneck was,” Clark said.
Clark’s roommate was not a great first impression of her American peers. Her roommate once told her friend not to touch Clark’s belongings because “you don’t know where [Clark] has been.”
It wasn’t just Clark’s roommate that has treated her differently because of her race. Men have seen her as an exotic prize rather than a respectable date. Some men have only dated Clark because of her Asian background.
“I think everyone treats me a little differently,” Clark said of people’s first impressions of her.
But, while others see her as predominantly Asian, Clark identifies more with her father’s American background. She is more comfortable speaking English rather than Japanese, and ultimately sees herself as more American after she has accustomed herself to American culture within the past four years.
As far how she deals with those people that treat her badly due to her Asian background, she just tries to stay away from them.
“I don’t have ties or obligations to anyone,” Clark said.
Although her transition into American culture and college life was not easy, Clark has learned to love Oregon and the city of Eugene. Her plans for after graduation are still up in the air, but she loves the home she has made here and the friends that have made her transition that much easier.
“I think I want to stay in America,” Clark said with a proud grin on her face. She has finally found her niche.
Dear Ms. Moffitt,
I am writing to you as a reporter at the University of Oregon. I am a junior currently studying journalism and multimedia design.
Currently, I am researching a story on the discussion over tuition dollars being increased to make up for the lack of state funding at the University of Oregon. I have read a recent article in the Register Guard (“UO tends to out-of-state tuition”), where you were quoted discussing the issue of increased out-of-state tuition dollars being monitored.
With this in mind, I would love to find out more information on the subject. I want to understand the topic in a more thorough manner and can sense your clear and unbiased knowledge on the topic.
If you have some free time, I would love to ask you a few questions. I am free on Monday and Friday between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Best,
Jamie Hershman
(818) 309-8220
jamiehershman@gmail.com
1. There’s no denying that student election season at the University of Oregon creates harassment and annoyance on the student’s side against the campaigners. However, I want to explore the other side–the campaign side of elections, those that are seen as the harassers. I want to write a story from the point of view of campaigners as they walk down 13th Avenue to promote their ASUO campaign.
2. Just outside the UO campus there are a number of food vendors that cater to hungry students who don’t have time to go home in between classes to eat lunch. I want to profile one of the well-known food vendors–the Hot Dog Lady, as she is known across campus–and write a story based on how she began at the UO campus and what motivates her passion as a food truck vendor.
3. Winter and spring term is the time when students begin looking for next year’s housing. Housing around campus is dominated by a small group of powerful rentals companies, such as PMC, Von Klein, and Bell Reality. These companies have the power to increase rent each year because competition is scarce. I want to look at if Eugene rental companies are taking advantage of students through their increased rental prices each year and their unwillingness to negotiate with students.