Portman pushes early college credit bill during Dayton visit
— The growing DAYTON push to help high school students earn college credit could add another pathway if U.S. Sen. Rob Portman’s Go to High School, Go to College Act becomes federal law.
Portman, R-Ohio, visited high-achieving students and staff at the Dayton Early College Academy on Friday and talked about removing obstacles to college success, especially for low-income students.
“We’re trying to provide Pell Grants to these students at the high school level while they’re taking college courses ... to give them access to the aid they would normally get when they’re in college,” Portman said of his bill. “The rate of college completion with these kinds of programs is unbelievable.”
Dayton-area education officials have frequently cited higher college success rates when students complete a semester or more of college credit while still in high school.
The Go to High School, Go to College Act was introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House this spring, with the House version co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Cleveland.
Portman called Ohio a leader in early-credit programs, saying many states don’t have a system like Ohio’s College Credit Plus, which allows students to take college courses for free while in high school. But there was some question of how necessary Portman’s bill is for Ohio, given the state’s existing system.
DECA Principal David Taylor said the one downside to College Credit Plus is that the student’s high school bears the cost, albeit reduced, of the student’s college courses.
“You can imagine the impact of dozens of students taking courses at (colleges) while we pay for it, and what that can do to an already tight school budget,” Taylor said. “This program would allow us to use Pell Grants to offset that cost. It makes College Credit Plus an affordable option for schools.”
Learn to Earn Dayton Executive Director Tom Lasley is a supporter of Portman’s bill, but he emphasized that the legislation would create a “beta test” of the system, only at Early College High Schools around the nation, to see how it would work. DECA and Dunbar are the two early college high schools in the Dayton area.
Lasley was asked whether the program could actually hurt poor Ohio students, by unnecessarily using their Pell Grant eligibility to cover the high schools’ costs.
Lasley said part of any beta test is checking for unintended consequences like that. But he emphasized that some poorer school districts may offer access to fewer college courses, or none at all, unless their costs are offset by a program such as Portman’s Pell Grant bill. He said it’s important that students have the chance to take college courses.
Trayvon Snow is a 2015 DECA graduate who’s headed for the Army Reserve this summer, and then to Wright State University to study criminal justice. He said DECA helped him through the process of earning 10 college credit hours, and he hopes the system doesn’t keep changing.
“Ten credits isn’t too big or too small (a number), but with those credit hours, I feel more comfortable because I have prior experience, so I know I can handle college,” Snow said.
Portman watched the DECA students operate a robot they built and said he was impressed with the students’ drive. He wants a smart system to help them have success in college.
“This is an opportunity to get those Pell Grants working for exactly their purpose, which is to help people who otherwise wouldn’t have the means to go to college,” Portman said. “There’s a notion out there that everybody ought to be getting student loans. That’s fine for a lot of students, but the Pell Grants are a lot more effective because those students aren’t going to graduate with a huge debt burden.”