Gov. Bob Taft proposed yesterday reinstating a 9 percent tuition cap at Ohio State and a 6 percent cap at the rest of Ohio’s public colleges and universities.
“We would prefer that tuition caps were not instituted and that, instead, the trustees of each institution be charged with evaluating the need for tuition enhancement,” said OSU President Karen Holbrook.
The reinstatement of the caps came after several universities implemented double-digit increases and others raised tuition halfway through the year.
“We want to make higher education affordable,” said state Rep. Dan Stewart, D-Columbus. “It is important to the state and important to the economy.”
Stewart said tuition caps should be put in place to combat the state’s “brain drain” — Ohio loses the highest number of high-school graduates to universities in another state.
“If some of our youngest and brightest are leaving the state because they can get a better deal somewhere else, then that is hurting Ohio,” he said.
Tuition caps can result in the cutting of university programs if it does not have any money coming in from any other source.
“The whole idea of caps makes life difficult for the students that attend Ohio’s public colleges and universities,” said Greg Hand, spokesman for the University of Cincinnati. “The campus, in connection with cuts, ends up hurting the students because the only thing you can do when money doesn’t come in from the state or the students is to cut programs.”
Taft said he would not cut state funding for higher education as long as the Ohio General Assembly passes his legislation intended to patch the $720 million deficit in the state’s budget.
“I call on the Ohio General Assembly to raise the needed revenue now, rather than forcing cuts that will hurt Ohio’s ability to position itself as a leader in the new economy,” Taft said.
The governor proposed raising tobacco and alcohol taxes and accelerating the collection of sales taxes along with other cuts to address the budget.
“It is too early to tell and too hard to judge right now about what cuts have to be made because the Republicans haven’t talked to us about it in some bipartisan fashion,” Stewart said. “The Republicans got us into this mess, and now they are going to ask us to vote to help them out.”
If the assembly does not pass the legislation, a 2.5-percent cut would be made to higher education funding — this would result in a $7.7-million loss for OSU.
“Right now we are hoping that will not be necessary,” Holbrook said. “We are getting a lot of input from the campus looking at where we can make those cuts rationally.”
The govenor is hoping to start increasing higher education funding by as much as 3 percent starting in 2004.
Holbrook said OSU is getting the special 9 percent cap as opposed to the 6 percent for everybody else because it did not have midterm tuition increases last year and has always had a lower tuition than most public universities in Ohio.
“There will be a number of members who question why Ohio State is getting a higher tuition cap than other colleges and universities,” said state Sen. Ray Miller, a Democrat. “They would want all of our college and universities on an even playing field and allowing one college to set tuition higher would be unfair.”
Miller, whose district includes OSU, said a strong case can be made for giving this univeristy a special cap.
“In the financial environment, the 9 percent distinction for OSU isn’t big enough to cover the budget problems the state is having,” Hand said.
Holbrook said if OSU is forced to make cuts in its research and programs, its first priority would be to the students.
“Our goal will be to insure the instructional program for students,” she said. “That’s our No. 1 priority. That’s what we are about.”
