In the constant attempt to further promote excellence among higher education institutions statewide, a group of Ohio lawmakers are currently devising a new, graduation rate-based incentives program to help financially reward those schools that show marked increases from year to year.
The proposal, sponsored by Republican Sens. Joy Padgett of Coshocton and Randall Gardner of Bowling Green, was introduced earlier this month and is still in its early stages of development.
Following a State of the State address by Gov. Bob Taft last week that was high on improving K-12 education, Padgett said that the incentive proposal is a sign of the statehouse official’s commitment to fostering education, encouraging timely graduation and curbing early dropouts.
Padgett also said that a properly administered program of incentives will have a roundabout effect of improving the schools potential of receiving the financial gain, as well as the students and taxpayers across Ohio.
“It simply doesn’t do taxpayers any good when kids drop out after one or two years,” she said. “It wastes public dollars and it wastes the dollars of those dropping out.”
Referring to Taft’s speech, the senator said the process of increasing college graduation rates begins on the secondary education level before anything. By promoting rigorous education in high school, students will no longer need remedial coursework in college, which essentially adds on to their projected graduation.
Additionally, former Ohio State Undergraduate Student Government President Aftab Pureval, a member on the Higher Education Funding Study Council with Sens. Padgett and Gardner and currently studying law at the University of Cincinnati, said that a starting point for legislators and universities is to look into why students are not graduating in four years.
This is not the first endeavor by the state government to support graduation rate improvements said Republican Rep. Jimmy Stewart, pointing to the Success Challenge initiative implemented in 2000. The program was developed “to determine a score for each four-year university relative to the number of baccalaureate degrees earned in a ‘timely manner’ from that institution in that year,” according to the Ohio Board of Regent’s Web site.
“(The incentives proposal) is not really a new concept,” Stewart said. “I do think it’s a positive though. Personally, I have no problem increasing funding for schools as long as the money is there.”
While the proposal is in its infancy and any specific language of the bill’s implementation is pending, there are certain concerns that are currently being addressed.
One such apprehension regards a university’s potential temptation to lower or reduce its graduation standards so as to not miss out on incentive funding.
“You will most likely find a tremendous difference in opinion from certain Ohio universities,” said Herb Asher, Ohio State Professor Emeritus of political science.
Asher pointed to schools that are “access universities,” or those that accept a large number of less well-prepared students, which typically correlates to lower graduation rates. These schools might potentially be at a disadvantage depending on how the proposal is drawn out, in comparison to universities with high enrollment requirements and subsequently greater graduation rates.
“The most effective program would be one that is sensitive to the different missions of each university, and recognizes their individual disadvantages,” he said.
To circumvent such negative reactions to any incentive proposal, Asher said the authors of the program could work on calculating expected graduation rates, given the character of individual universities, and use that to formulate a reward program that differs with each university.
Stewart also said that the proposal should take into account the reality that many schools have a large number of non-traditional students who do not attend with the intent of graduating, but rather for the completion of certain, specific courses. Therefore, incentives could be based upon not only a university’s overall graduation rate, but rather many different criterions depending on the individual institution.
Though the awaiting hurdles remain for incentive proposal’s future implementation, initial reactions to the fundamental elements of the program are generally positive.
“(Potential downfalls) are definitely something to be studied and looked into by (legislators and universities), but anything the state can do to promote higher graduation rates is something they should do,” said Chad McVeigh, president of the College Democrats at OSU and statewide chairman of the Ohio College Democrats. “Even if it just means graduating ten more students, it’s a positive.”
Funding for the incentive program would come from $30 million created from the state’s two-year budget bill.
“The House wanted to hold the $30 million aside for next year,” Padgett said. “Personally, I think we’re willing to apply it to the formula now.”
She said the deadline for an official initiative to be put in writing will come sometime this May.
