The University of Toledo’s interim president will sign an agreement today to join regional higher education institutions in a group effort aimed at efficiency and affordability.

Nagi Naganathan said UT, Terra State Community College, and Northwest State Community College will ink a memorandum of understanding that creates a consortium tasked with developing ways to work together and save money. A spokesman for Owens Community College said the college is also joining the alliance.

The three institutions already team up on technology — UT hosts the schools’ information technology systems, Mr. Naganathan said. UT also has assisted in human resource functions, he said.

Discussions about ways the institutions can work together developed over the last year.

“The conversations have to be connected and coordinated at the highest levels,” Mr. Naganathan said, adding that the institutions could consider numerous ways to work together, from purchasing to “backroom office functions.”

The group’s formation comes amid much political talk about rising college tuition.

Gov. John Kasich in February created a task force to examine ways to hold down tuition and other costs. A state Senate bill introduced that month calls for publicly funded schools to submit a plan to reduce student costs by 5 percent for the 2016-17 year.

Bowling Green State University is not among the new group’s initial members, but spokesman Dave Kielmeyer said it is interested “in doing what we can to control costs” and in further collaboration with area universities.

First Published April 9, 2015, 4:00 a.m.