PRESS RELEASE: Oregon Joins National Effort to Expand Education and Workforce Pathways for Justice-Impacted Individuals
On January 14, the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC), in partnership with the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Oregon Employment Department (OED), announced that Oregon has officially joined the inaugural cohort of Jobs for the Future’s (JFF) Fair Chance to Advance (FC2A) State Action Networks, a new initiative to help states expand high-quality postsecondary education and workforce pathways for individuals with histories of incarceration. Read the full press release here.
Save the Date for the Oregon Talent Summit on May 19, 2026
We are excited to announce that the Oregon Talent Summit, hosted by the Workforce & Talent Development Board (WTDB) in collaboration with the HECC will be held on May 19, 2026, at the Salem Convention Center. Since 2018, the Talent Summit has been a cornerstone event for shaping and advancing Oregon’s workforce and education strategies, bringing together leaders from business, education, community-based organizations, state agencies, policymakers, and others from across the state. Please save the date, and share this with your networks to encourage statewide participation. You can also join the Talent Summit mailing list, available on the WTDB website, to stay informed on this event.
New Transfer Agreements
The HECC and public institutions, through the Transfer Council, are working together to streamline the transfer of credits between Oregon’s 17 community colleges and seven public universities. We are pleased to announce that ten courses were recently approved for Common Course Numbering (CCN) in Biology, Chemistry, and Spanish, and a new Major Transfer Map (MTM) was approved in Communication. With recent approvals, Oregon now has a total of 50 common lower division courses that are aligned and approved for Common Course Numbering to help students transfer credits between all public institutions in Oregon and nine major-specific transfer degrees that transfer coursework to count toward a bachelor’s degree in a specific major.
- Institutions can find details on these agreements, including effective dates and catalog requirements, on our CCN web page.
- Institutions can find details on these agreements, including effective dates and catalog requirements, on our MTM web page.
Students can learn how to take advantage of active agreements under Tools for Transfer here. Students can easily identify available CCN courses in catalogs because they all end in a Z.
Chafee Education and Training Voucher Program: The 2025-2026 Chafee Education and Training Voucher Program application is now open. Visit our application eligibility requirements and submit an application.
FAFSA and ORSAA: The 2025-26 FAFSA and ORSAA are open. Visit our FAFSA/ORSAA pages to learn how to prepare and apply.
FAFSA/ORSAA Help Webinars: View our website for numerous upcoming FAFSA/ORSAA webinars, including training for practitioners and student drop in help sessions.
Oregon Promise Grant: Students who are high school or GED® test graduates between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 can apply now! Deadline varies by graduation date.
Oregon Tribal Student Grant: The 2026-2027 Oregon Tribal Student Grant application opened December 1, 2025. Students can now and are encouraged to apply for the 2026-2027 academic year (Fall 2026, Winter 2027, Spring 2027).
OSAC Scholarship Application provides current and future Oregon students one easy application to apply for multiple scholarships at one time. Students who complete the scholarship application by February 16, 2026 will be entered into a drawing for an Early Bird Scholarship. The final deadline to submit the application is March 2, 2026.
HECC Collaborations and other Recent Publications
Read about recent initiatives of the HECC in our December agency newsletter. This issue focuses on strategies to promote prosperity and opportunity, including the launch of a process to consider updates to the state’s postsecondary educational attainment goal, transfer pathways, enrollment updates, scholarship opportunities, new legislative reports, and more.
Other recent HECC news:
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Ongoing Opportunities
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