OHIO REGENTS State has good news on YSU

One-third of YSU students are forced to get federal loans, the lowest among main campuses.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State University spends less than other universities in Ohio, and its students pay less and get more financial aid, according to the state's annual performance report on higher education.
The study, to be released this afternoon in Columbus, also shows that YSU does an above-average job of retaining students from year to year and getting them to graduate.
"We are very, very lean up here," said Dr. Jan Elias, YSU assistant provost.
"I think it's a real tribute that these statistics are as good as they are considering the resources we have to work with."
The 73-page report is chock full of data about Ohio's 38 public universities and colleges, from tuition rates and student racial profiles to remedial classes and research funding.
Gov. Bob Taft requested the annual report in 1999, and the first was released last December by the Ohio Board of Regents, the governing body for public higher education.
Like last year's study, the new report includes much good news for YSU, Elias said.
Student costs: YSU's $4,204 tuition rate this year ranks 11th out of Ohio's 13 four-year public universities and well below the $4,973 state average, the report said.
Meanwhile, 31 percent of YSU students receive some sort of grant money from the university to attend school, the fourth highest percentage.
Much of that grant money comes from the YSU Foundation, a private, $132.1 million endowment that gave $4.75 million to YSU last year, mostly for student scholarships.
As a result of the university support, only a third of YSU students are forced to get federal loans to pay for school, the lowest among university main campuses, the report said.
"That's good because we don't have students that are going to have to be worrying about paying back these loans," Elias said.
The report also says YSU spends $8,454 per full-time student, next to the lowest in the state and well below the $11,441 state average for university main campuses.
"We're spending less because we have less to spend," Elias said. "We don't have any choice about that. Even though we spend less and our tuition is lower, our results are pretty positive."
Faculty: For instance, 28 percent of first-year student credit hours at YSU are taught by full professors, the highest rate in Ohio and well above the 13 percent state average.
Elias said she thinks that fact, plus the high amount of financial aid, helps YSU keep students enrolled. Sixty-seven percent of YSU's first-year students in 1999 were still enrolled in 2000, compared with 60 percent at Cleveland State University and 65 percent at the University of Akron.
"There's less financial worry, and they're getting the attention of experienced faculty in their freshman year," she said about the retention rate.
The report also shows that it takes YSU students 4.8 years to complete a bachelor's degree, above the 4.3-year state median. Two Northeast Ohio schools -- Akron (5.3 years) and Cleveland State University (five years) -- had longer completion rates.
"For the type of institution we are -- with the number of part-time students and students who are in and out, who leave for a time and then come back -- I think that's really excellent," Elias said.
"It shows if a student wants to complete a degree in the typical four-year time period, that they certainly can."
More figures: Other facts in the report:
UNine percent of YSU undergraduate students are black, low compared with other urban universities: Cleveland State (19 percent), Akron (15 percent), Cincinnati (15 percent) and Toledo (12 percent).
UTwenty-three percent of first-year students statewide take remedial math or English classes in college; at YSU, it's 28 percent, fourth highest. Central State ranks the highest with 52 percent, followed by Cleveland State with 50 percent.
UOhio has seven open admission universities that must admit all Ohio applicants who have a high school diploma: YSU, Akron, Cleveland, Central, Shawnee, Toledo and Wright. Six other universities limit admission based on academic preparation: Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Kent State, Miami, Ohio State and Ohio University.
XThe full report is available at www.regents.state.oh.us/perfrpt.