Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced a higher education tuition cap and a new way state funds will be distributed to universities as part of this two-year budget plan.
In a Monday press conference in Columbus, Kasich laid out Ohio’s budget during the rest of his term as governor, which detailed a Medicaid expansion, a 20 percent income tax, and cutting the sales tax to 5 percent from 5.5 percent.
His roughly $1.8 billion higher education plans include capping tuition increases at 2 percent for public colleges and tying graduation rates more with state funding as opposed to enrollment.
Kasich talked about how to approach education in Ohio during a September meeting with higher education leaders, including OSU President E. Gordon Gee.
Kasich said at the meeting he believes that the new funding system should reward institutional graduation rates, instead of just enrollment figures.
Kasich said in September that he asked Gee to “kind of lead the effort,” but said it wouldn’t be an OSU-centric process.
In a Monday statement, Gee stated his approval of the budget plan.
“At a time when other states are reducing critical funding for higher education, the governor has once again affirmed the importance of an educated workforce to our state’s economic well-being by providing an increase for a new funding formula that rewards degree and course completion,” Gee said.
Gee said the planned change would reflect a “renewed focus on student success” and would “establish a new standard for the nation.”
The 2 percent public tuition cap comes after a 7 percent tuition increase over the past two years.