Tuition hike for joint program proposed
OHIO STATE /
Columbus State and Ohio State have a proposition for state budget-makers: If state funding for colleges and universities is tied to performance, how about allowing high-performing schools raise their tuition?
The problem is that Gov. John Kasich’s state budget proposal calls for tuition to stay frozen, as it has for the past two years. A proposal brought forward by the two colleges would allow tuition increases of up to 3 percent in each of the next two
years, provided the institution spells out how it would use the money to promote socalled two-plus-two programs.
The programs guarantee students who earn associate’s degrees at community colleges, and meet certain criteria, acceptance at a four-year institution to finish bachelor’s degrees.
The idea, which Columbus State President David Harrison presented to the House Higher Education Subcommittee on Tuesday, would let willing schools raise their tuitions and earmark the money to pay for the increased student advising, technology and administrators needed to support such
agreements. Four-year institutions that want to participate could not limit the number of two-plus-two transfers.
National statistics show that students who start at community colleges, then transfer to four-year schools, are more likely to earn degrees than those who start at the four-year schools. The success rate is higher still for those who earn associate’s degrees before transferring. Moreover, the lower cost of community college could shave tens of thousands of dollars off the cost of a bachelor’s degree and reduce student debt.
“We feel like there’s good momentum in the state” in closing achievement gaps between subgroups of students and operating more efficiently, Harrison said. He
credits state-budget initiatives, such as performance-based funding and requiring colleges to report on efficiency efforts, for that improvement, but he thinks Ohio could do more.
“A great next step would be really embracing two-plustwo” programs, he said. The same incentive that prodded colleges to improve to earn more basic state aid could work again, Ohio State spokesman Chris Davey said.
“The thinking here is if we apply the same approach to tuition, we would see the same success,” he said.
Columbus State has negotiated “Preferred Pathways” agreements with Ohio State, Ohio University, Miami, Capital, Franklin, Ohio Dominican, Ohio Wesleyan and Otterbein.
Rep. Mike Duffey, a Republican from Worthington and a member of the subcommittee, favors the idea — for Columbus State and OSU, if not statewide. “I’m not a fan of a one-sizefits-all, statewide solution,” he said. “I prefer to see a laboratory of ideas.”
He believes the central Ohio institutions deserve a chance to use increased tuition revenue to boost the Columbus State Pathways agreement, because of their good track record of cooperation and because both have refrained from increasing tuition even in years when the legislature allowed it. “They are the two in the whole state of Ohio who left the most on the table by not going to the max (in tuition increases) every time,” Duffey said.
In his testimony, Harrison said that Columbus State hasn’t raised tuition for more than six years and that, if it had imposed the allowable increase each time, students would have paid nearly $30 million more in tuition.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rick Perales, R-Beavercreek, said the idea is interesting and that Columbus State and Ohio State have set “a great example” for the rest of the state, but said the issue needs more study. “I like Dr. Harrison’s out-of-thebox thinking on this issue, but now we have to do our due diligence on that proposal and see what will be best for all of Ohio’s students.”