Saturday, March 12, 2005
Last May, David Sweet, president of Youngstown State University, tossed out an idea that we said in an editorial "intrigued" us: the creation of a community college to serve as a bridge between high school and YSU. Today, in light of President Bush's State of Union address, Gov. Bob Taft's proposal for funding public universities and colleges and Attorney General Jim Petro's plan for fixing Ohio's higher education system, we would use the word "prescient" to describe what Sweet had discussed with us.
Why? Because Bush, Taft and Petro, who will be seeking the Republican nomination for governor next year, have emerged as strong advocates of two-year colleges. The president said in his nationally televised speech in February that his administration would increase funding for such institutions. Likewise, the governor demonstrated his commitment by proposing in his biennium budget additional state dollars for community colleges. And this week, Petro unveiled his higher education initiative that has as its cornerstone the creation of two boards of regents, one for four-year public universities and colleges and the other for two-year colleges.
"Their missions are really very different," says the attorney general, who has also served as state auditor and Cuyahoga County commissioner. "These governing boards would manage colleges and universities and ensure resources are directed considering the priorities of the whole state. The empowered boards of regents will also be better able to facilitate other important coordination between institutions such as guarantee that credits are fully transferable from school to school."
Academic needs
In explaining his idea for a Youngstown State University community college, Dr. Sweet said a separate institution would enable students not prepared for the rigors of college life to fulfill academic needs and also make the transition from high school to higher education. Given that 43 percent of the student body enter YSU without having completed college core courses, the first year on campus essentially becomes the 13th year of high school. And that necessitates a commitment of money, faculty and staff that institutions with admission requirements, such as high school grade point average and college entrance examination scores, don't have to make.
Indeed, given the fact that state support for higher education has been on a downward trend, and the demand by the Legislature for higher education to become more efficient, end duplication of graduate and post-graduate degrees, and develop programs that prepare Ohioans for the workplace, Dr. Sweet can easily make the case for a two-year institution. The governor, the General Assembly and the board of regents should give such a proposal serious consideration.
The board of regents released a study last year showing that 39 percent of the graduates of Ohio's high schools who attended public colleges in fall 2001 enrolled in at least one remedial course as a freshman.
"All of the basic measures of early college success are higher for students who take more rigorous courses while in high school," Roderick Chu, chancellor of the board of regents, said at the time. But the state's primary and secondary education system is ill-equipped to do what the chancellor is advocating.
On the other hand, a community college linked to YSU would accomplish what the president, the governor, the attorney general and others are advocating.