Higher education
Posted March 28, 2013 in Press Releases
Next sectionPrevious sectionHigher education funding is set to receive a badly needed, but markedly insufficient, increase in the proposed budget. The increase does little to offset the rising costs of higher education and does nothing to extend state need-based financial aid to community college students or those enrolled at two-year branch campuses.
It is expensive to get a college education in Ohio. In 2012, Ohio’s average cost of tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities was 6.2 percent higher than the national average, and the average cost of community college tuition and fees was 21.9 percent higher.[20] In terms of actual cost, students at community colleges were spending $372.00 more on tuition and fees in the academic years of 2011-12 than in 2008-09. Students at two-year branch campuses spent an extra $428.[21]
Tuition and fees are high in Ohio because state support is low. Ohio has lagged the nation in support for higher education for the past 20 years. In 1991, Ohio dedicated $7.03 per $1,000 in personal income to funding higher education, $1.38 less than the national average.[22] In 2010, Ohio dropped further behind the nation, investing only $4.57 out of every $1,000 in personal income, in higher education.[23] Ohio started out behind and has fallen further.
Although the need for need-based financial aid has grown, Ohio has disinvested in aid in current dollars