Rebates among ideas to reduce college costs


Details online

Check out the details of Ohio college plans to reduce student costs by reading the documents at MyDaytonDailyNews.com.

Plans put forward earlier this month by Wright State University and other Ohio public colleges to make them more affordable — including rebates to students who take full course loads — impressed Senate President Keith Faber.

Institutions were required to outline how they intend to create at least a 5 percent cost savings for students — a provision Faber added into the state budget. Local schools’ plans include everything from discounting textbooks to getting students out the door faster. Some of the proposals have already been enacted.

State officials say recent tuition freezes have prevented cost spikes, however, they say more needs to be done to make college affordable. Faber, R-Celina, and Gov. John Kasich favored an approach where colleges would self-identify ways to lower cost.

In particular, Faber is excited about proposals by Wright State and Clark State Community College to offer students rebates if they take full course loads.

“Wright State already had one of the lowest tuition plans in the state — God bless them,” Faber said. “(This) shows President (David) Hopkins is a real leader.”

Wright State’s rebate will be enacted next year. Here’s how it will work: If a student completes 24 credit hours in a given fall and spring semester, they would earn a 20 percent discount on a course the following summer semester. That represents a possible savings of $945 over four years.

Clark State began offering a similar rebate for the fall semester, awarding rebates totaling $33,450 to 314 students.

Faber says it’s better to put rebates toward tuition, rather than sending a check to the student.

“If someone had sent me rebate, I would have had a good weekend or a spring break trip, maybe new tires, but it was not going toward tuition,” Faber said.

Rep. Mike Duffey, R-Worthington, is the chair of the Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education. He said rewarding students to stay on track for graduation is key.

Duffey points out that the majority of the universities in Ohio charge the same amount for 12 credit hours as they do for 18. That means, according to Duffey, if students take only 12 credit hours they lose out on six credit hours, and may have to stay in school longer than four years.

“People would be shocked to know how many students are going five or six years,” Duffey said. “Students are driving up the cost by going a fifth year. To be totally honest, some are partying too hard.”

In addition to increased cost, Duffey says taking five or six years to graduate can send the wrong message to employers.

“It’s something that’s going to prompt someone to ask a question,” he said.

A handful of institutions proposed saving students more than 5 percent, including Wright State, which wants to expand College Credit Plus and reduce the cost of textbooks. If all of Wright State’s ideas were implemented, it could potentially save a student $8,044 over the course of four years, or 9.1 percent of the cost of attendance.

Here’s how much proposals by local colleges and universities could potentially save students per year: Central State University, $1,319 (6.9 percent); Clark State, $1,241 (23 percent); Miami University, $2,594 (8.6 percent); Ohio State University, $2,446 (9.6 percent); Sinclair Community College, $392 (7.9 percent); and the University of Cincinnati, $2,179 (8.8 percent).

The proposals do not guarantee a 5 percent savings for every student. In addition, many of the plans have already been implemented.

John Carey, chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education — which in late September changed its name from Ohio Board of Regents — called the plans a “valuable exercise” and “one from which all of our students will benefit in the future.”

Faber said the next step is for the state to review the proposals and identify a list of “best practices.” He also says that the legislature chose to push schools with the “carrot instead of the stick” and that might change if schools do not make serious efforts to lower costs.

“The governor issued a public warning to (colleges and universities), to meet his and the legislature’s satisfaction or more serious measures will be taken,” Duffey added.

Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University who specializes in higher education, would like to see the state push the universities harder.

“It’s a good idea, but this is overdue,” he said.

Vedder wants to see the state push universities to cut administrative cost — something, according to an analysis by this newspaper, that has grown $1.4 billion over the course of the past decade.

“There isn’t one institution in the state that couldn’t cut 100 positions,” Vedder said. “Some of them would be administrative assistants, sustainability coordinators, diversity experts or public relations experts.

“If you can cut 100 positions from Wright State, you can probably cut 300 or 500 at OSU.”

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