Both changes are meant to save students money as the cost of higher education continues to rise faster than inflation, and student loan debt reaches $1 trillion.
“We want every credit they take here to count towards a degree,” said Thomas Sudkamp, Wright State University associate provost for undergraduate studies.
“The hope is the students will get the message early. It is for their benefit.”
Ohio is following a national trend that critics say could limit access to the four-year degrees many need for high-paying jobs. Some fear it may discourage some students from attending college at all.
“A lot of the students who need remediation are the same students who have already been marginalized by the system because they attended the worst high schools and are the least prepared,” said Tara L. Parker, a University of Massachusetts professor who studies developmental education. “There is no evidence community colleges do remedial courses any better or cheaper.”
In fact, data from Complete College America, a national higher education advocate, shows a quarter of community college remedial students finish their associate degree course work compared with 38 percent at a four-year school.
Yet a recent study from the American Association of Community Colleges suggests two-year schools are improving their completion rates. Between 1990 and 2010 the number of credentials earned at community colleges rose 127 percent, the study found, but overall graduation rates remain almost half that of four-year schools.
Helen Grove, Sinclair Community College provost, said schools like hers are more nimble than large universities and are able to offer students a wide range of ways to better prepare for college-level work.
“I think we are better prepared to individualize students’ learning experiences and get them through more quickly,” Grove said.
Flagging high school students
The Ohio Board of Regents wants to take the changes to developmental courses even further, said Kim Norris, spokeswoman for Chancellor Jim Petro. The state spends roughly $130 million a year on remedial courses that do not count toward a degree.
“Remediation is very expensive at the college level and needs to be done in high school,” Norris said. The regents are pushing for a 10th-grade assessment that would flag students who may need extra before graduation. “We need to know much earlier in the process.”
By the end of 2012, university and college presidents must develop standards of what it means for a student to be “remediation free,” Norris said. “This needs to be addressed at the K-12 level.”
That approach will not address the growing number of adult professionals who are going back to college for retraining and often need developmental help, Parker said. “Addressing it in high school will not remove the need,” she said.
Area universities are working with community colleges to develop partnerships to provide a growing number of developmental courses to students both on and off campus. WSU signed a “gateway” agreement with Clark State Community College that allows students help to “dual enroll” in both schools, Sudkamp said. They are working on a similar agreement with Sinclair Community College.
Wright State is not eliminating every developmental course, but plans to reduce the offerings to one English and one math class next year, Sudkamp said. About 60 percent of WSU students need some remedial course work, typically in mathematics, he said.
By 2017, the state will end subsidies for developmental courses at most university main campuses, he said. Regional and branch campuses as well as community colleges will continue to receive state funding to support remedial education.
Staffing changes
Universities typically use adjunct or part-time professors to teach students who need help to be ready for college-level work. Officials at both WSU and Clark State acknowledge staffing those positions could change under the new system.
David Devier, Clark State vice president of academic and student affairs, said his school will likely need additional positions to handle the increase in remedial classes. “Obviously, there is a concern if you are a developmental instructor at a four-year university,” he said. “The clock is running.”
In the end, educators from kindergarten to college must work together to limit the amount of developmental education needed, said Sean Creighton, executive director of the Southwest Ohio Council for Higher Education.
“We need to look at what kids are not learning,” Creighton said. “This is a huge issue that must be addressed. It is not a question of blame, but of how do we better educate our children.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2342 or cmagan@coxohio.com
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