Gov. John Kasich and the presidents of Ohio’s 14 public universities and 23 community colleges have worked together productively to make a college degree more attainable and affordable. Their efforts at efficiency don’t make up for the state’s disinvestment in aid to higher education in recent years, but the exercise is still useful.
As part of its midterm review of the state’s two-year budget, the Kasich administration — collaborating with the Ohio Department of Higher Education — is offering several proposals to cut college costs and pass savings on to students. Most are promising; some seem more questionable. A bill that includes the recommended changes is before the State House.
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The administration’s package builds on previous initiatives that allow Ohio high school students to earn college credits. It proposes a pilot program that would provide remedial support to high school students who enroll in college-level courses, improving their prospects for success in those classes and beyond. It’s worth a try.
The plan would make it easier for adult students to earn reputable online degrees. It also calls on Ohio to join nine other Midwest states in a compact that would enable Ohio students to enroll in some programs at colleges and universities in those states, at a reduced out-of-state tuition rate. Students in other states would have the same opportunity here.
The governor’s proposals include expanded options for students to pursue undergraduate degrees by completing three years at a community college before transferring to a four-year university. They also would allow community colleges to offer as many as 10 programs that grant bachelor’s degrees, especially in technical fields in areas where Ohio faces worker shortages.
These proposals would reduce cost pressures on students, since tuition at community colleges — about $4,000 a year — is about one-third as much as public universities charge on average. But if a student can get a degree from a four-year university after spending just one year there, the value of that degree might seem diluted. The proposals also threaten to blur the distinct educational roles and missions of community colleges and four-year schools.
More positively, the administration offers specific ways for colleges and universities to drive down their costs. The recommendations include financial incentives to schools whose students graduate on time. They would make the state’s computing center available to the schools to store and process data.
They would help colleges and universities use their classrooms and other buildings more efficiently, especially during the summer. And they would encourage schools to offer programs that enable undergraduates to enhance their financial literacy, as another way of avoiding debt.
Reducing college costs will permit more Ohioans to seek higher education without enduring oppressive student loan debt. That will improve the state’s economy and job climate. The changes proposed by the governor and his higher education team are, for the most part, worth pursuing.
First Published March 4, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
