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State focuses on reducing the cost of four-year degrees
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
State officials announced a package of policy changes aimed at reducing the cost of college degrees.
Initiatives include an expansion of bachelor degrees offered at community colleges and a program allowing students to complete three years of their undergraduate work at those same campuses.
Both are part of the proposed law changes offered as part of Gov. John Kasich’s mid-biennium budget legislation.
Details of the higher-education portion of the plan were unveiled at Lorain County Community College during a recent news conference.
“Across the country, the cost of a college education has far outpaced the consumer price index and even health care costs,” said John Carey, the state’s chancellor of higher education. “That cost has put the American dream of a college degree out of reach for a growing number of students and families. This is unacceptable.”
Since taking office, the Kasich administration has offered what it has called mid-biennium reviews – essentially, larger-scale policy proposals for lawmakers’ review during off-budget years.
This year’s MBR process is expected to be less intense than previous versions; legislative leaders have said they expect a series of smaller bills, as opposed to one larger one.
The higher-ed MBR released last week is a continuation of the administration’s past efforts, with a focus on boosting opportunities for high-school students to earn college credit and reducing the cost of four-year degrees.
Two initiatives spotlighted by Carey and others included an expansion of four-year degrees offered at community colleges, with up to 10 programs allowed.
Also, officials touted a “3+1” pathways program that would enable students to finish three years of undergraduate work at a community college, then transfer to a four-year university campus for the final year of their bachelor’s degree work.
Tuition at community colleges runs about $4,000 per year, well below rates at four-year universities.