Ohio lawmakers may lighten the financial burden on students by bringing back tuition caps for Ohio’s public universities.

If the state reinstates the cap, which was lifted in 2001, limitations will be placed on the amount by which tuition can be raised each year.

Emily Farst, a senior in communications, said tuition caps are a necessary part of public higher education.

“If they increase the tuition every year, that defeats the point of a public university, where the general public should be able to afford to go,” Farst said. “If they don’t cap the tuition, the university will take advantage of the students.”

The two ways public universities get their funding are through state taxpayers’ money and students’ tuition.

Each year the state has to decide how much money it will give each public university. The university then decides what funding is necessary to satisfy the budget.

If the state does not provide a sufficient amount of money to the university, the school has to obtain the rest of the money elsewhere. One option is to increase tuition. But with tuition caps in place, universities cannot increase tuition, and the school must do without the extra money.

“With a tuition cap, the university cannot get X amount of money from students. If the state gives less money, they need more money from the students,” said Sen. Eric Fingerhut, D-Shaker Heights.

Replacing tuition caps is only in the proposal stages, Fingerhut said. The decision won’t be final until the state budget debate on June 30.

Some are opposed to the reinstatement of tuition caps because of the resulting lack of funds for the university.

Tuition caps may appear beneficial to students, but the outcome is universities will receive less money to provide a quality education, Fingerhut said.

Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook said if tuition caps are brought back, it could be hurtful to OSU.

“OSU needs to have enough from the state to support a good education,” Holbrook said. “OSU is a first-rate facility with first-rate faculty, and it needs a certain amount of money to compete with other universities in our sector.”

Because of Gov. Bob Taft’s commitment to higher education and bringing back tuition caps in his campaign, OSU agreed to not have a mid-year tuition increase this year.

“Our goal is to provide a good education for a reasonable amount of money,” Holbrook said.