Higher education in the state is under pressure to improve
Any hope the higher education community in Ohio may have had of an increase in state funding has been dashed by several recent developments.
The first involved Gov. John R. Kasich, who offered an unvarnished view of Ohio’s public universities and colleges during a speech to the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
“The cost of higher education is the fastest-rising cost in America today,” the Columbus Dispatch quoted Kasich as saying. “You know what it is? Lack of leadership — an unwillingness to confront the cost challenges that we have at our schools.”
And later in the speech, the governor, who won a second four-year term in November by a landslide, put an exclamation point to his assessment of the state’s universities and colleges with this:
“We have a long way to go on higher education. They’re going to have to change, if they’re going to survive, in my opinion.”
The next development came in the form of a study conducted by a gubernatorial panel led by former Ohio State University President Dr. E. Gordon Gee.
Gee and his co-chairman, John Carey, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, titled the report “Quality and Value Initiative for Ohio Education,” which reflects the two main areas of study: the quality of higher education in the state; and, the value students receive for the money they spend to earn a degree.
KEY RECOMMENDATION
One of the key recommendations is for the state’s institutions of higher learning to reinvent the student academic-advising structure to make it more data-driven and collaborative.
“Unclear degree pathways, infrequent meetings with advisers and disconnects between faculty and advisers all compromise students’ quality of instruction ...” the report states.
There are eight other recommendations that serve to highlight the shortcomings in higher education, which Gov. Kasich is using to support his contention that the status quo on campuses is not acceptable.
Given his very public criticism, the chances of his biennium budget containing an increase in state funding for higher education are slim to none. Indeed, with the changes made in the formula for distributing the state dollars — graduation and retention rates — universities and colleges are under intense pressure to perform.
The third development that will certainly affect the way the Republican governor and the Republican-controlled General Assembly deal with higher education funding had to do with a legislative proposal to slash tuition and other costs of attending college by 5 percent.
Should that become a reality, the financial hit on urban institutions like Youngstown State University will be huge.
These are challenging times for higher education in Ohio, and things are going to get worse before they get better.