COLLEGE FUNDING Plan to base increase on graduation rates

Colleges that have selective enrollment also have higher graduation rates.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- State lawmakers are looking at a plan to offer more state money to colleges based on how many students graduate.
It's another idea to make Ohio more competitive in today's economy, say its sponsors, state Sens. Randy Gardner of Bowling Green and Joy Padgett of Coshocton, both Republicans.
The details have yet to be worked out, but the two senators introduced the plan recently to the Inter-University Council of Ohio, a group of college presidents.
"Because of our long history of being a manufacturing state, there hasn't been much incentive to have a college degree," Gardner said. "But with the economy we're in now, we need more students and we need more graduates right now."
Roderick Chu, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, said the incentive money is a good idea. Universities would have to do more to help students who are destined to drop out, he said.
"Higher education has been sort of a sorting and filtering system, making sure only the best and brightest get through," Chu said. "The problem right now in the global economy is that is not the job we need done anymore."
Last week, House Speaker Jon Husted announced a plan to give tax breaks to students who earn degrees in math, science or engineering programs. But Ohio needs more graduates in all areas, Chu said.
Basis for system
The current state funding system is based mostly on enrollment and not academic performance.
In the state budget last year, lawmakers capped tuition increases while the growth of state funding was slowed.
Padgett and Gardner see their plan as a way to get the state's colleges to help themselves.
"You don't just give the dollars anymore without expecting a return on that investment," said Padgett, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.
No campus would receive less money than it currently gets, but each would have to show performance gains to get the incentive money.
Not every school enrolls comparable student bodies. For example, Miami University is selective about enrollment and had an 80 percent graduation rate in 2003, the most recent figure available. Cleveland State University, which accepts more at-risk students, had a 27 percent graduation rate in the same year.
Here's a concern
"Miami has always been very selective about students that they have taken in," said Cleveland State President Michael Schwartz. "Well, we haven't been. This has been a school of opportunity -- come one, come all."
Schwartz cautioned against any plan driven by higher graduation figures.
"If you're going to reward high graduation rates, you better be sure the standards that students have to reach are in order," he said. "If you start lowering standards to increase graduation rates, then what have you gained?"
The Higher Education Funding Study Council, a group of lawmakers, regents members and college representatives, has to decide by spring what to do with $30 million set aside for higher education next year. The group is considering Gardner's and Padgett's ideas.
But Gardner said he hopes his proposal leads lawmakers to come up with new ideas for funding higher education long-term, starting with the next two-year budget beginning next year.
"The first priority is to make higher education a higher priority for families, for students and the state Legislature," Gardner said.