Ohio State students have formed a coalition to protest the university’s proposed exemption from the state-mandated tuition cap. The Student Tuition Alliance spoke at Wednesday’s USG Senate meeting to gain support for their cause. They want students to be able to vote on the issue in this spring’s undergraduate elections.
The senate passed a resolution to announce its opposition to the administration’s proposed tuition increase of 9 percent a year. For the past 10 years, tuition increases have been capped at 6 percent a year for all public universities in Ohio, but the administration wants the state legislature to exempt OSU from the cap for the next five years.
According to USG President Ryan Robinson, the resolution was passed with the understanding that specific problems USG has with the tuition increase will be added to the resolution before it is official. The specifics will be determined by the executives and the senate, with input from the student alliance. They want to make their position on the issue clear to the university and the state legislature.
Kendra Bobulski, committee chairwoman for the alliance, and Russell Balthis, the alliance’s university liaison, are strongly against the tuition hike.
“This would mean that students would have to pay, on top of the 6 percent increase, another $160,” Balthis said. “That may not sound like a lot, but it is a lot to many students and $160 makes a big difference every year considering the average student at Ohio State leaves with $12,000 worth of debt.”
The resolution passed by USG mentioned that Ohio is ranked 41st in state funding for higher education, while the tuition of Ohio’s public universities is the ninth highest in the United States. The 1990 census ranked Ohio 44th in the percentage of its adults with high school diplomas who had gone on to attend institutions of higher education.
In addition, the Center for the Study of Higher and Post-secondary Education at the University of Michigan estimates that every $100 increase in tuition leads to a decrease in enrollments of .5 percent to 1 percent. Jennifer Perry, president of the OSU College Democrats, said the tuition increase will decrease opportunity not only for prospective students but current students as well.
“Because of money, some students won’t be able to come back or attend at all,” Perry said. “President William ‘Brit’ Kirwan said he considered this problem but has no real solution. The grants will increase, but what about students who take out loans? It seems like administration has put this on the back-burner.”
Perry said that if OSU gets permission for the tuition cap increase of 9 percent other schools will follow OSU’s lead.
“Once OSU gets the 9 percent increase every university will,” Perry said. “The sole reason is to attract a better quality of student. The University of Miami will be next to raise tuition. Public universities should not have an elitist attitude.”
Bobulski wants OSU to uphold its obligation to Ohio citizens interested in attending college at a public university.
“We (the alliance) feel that it is essential that Ohio State keep tuition affordable,” Bobulski said. “It is a land-grant institution, and it is Ohio State’s responsibility to make quality higher education affordable for all qualified high school graduates.”
Bobulski said she does not doubt the university will increase financial aid, but the increase will come in the form of loans, not grants, increasing the amount of debt for students.
“Inevitably, students are going to fall through the cracks,” Bobulski said. “There is no way that the university can assure that the people who cannot afford this increase in tuition are going to get the necessary financial aid.”
“Our main concern is that those students who fall through the cracks are going to be the minority students, both racially and economically,” Bobulski said. “It’s going to lower diversity on campus.”
Perry said that the state of Ohio needs to give more support to higher education and that additional funds should come from the state, not the students.
“It is great that they want to make OSU a top-rated university,” Perry said. “However, they are doing it on the backs of the students, the citizens of Ohio with the least amount of money.”
The Student Tuition Alliance plans to meet every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Ohio Union Board room.
-Shaila Kremer also contributed to this story.
