Ohio universities won’t offer remedial classes

Percent of first-year students taking remedial math or English courses 2010

By Meagan Pant

Staff Writer

Ohio colleges and universities spent $146 million in 2010 to educate incoming college students who were not ready for entry-level English and math classes. State law is set to change the way remedial courses are offered, with a plan to stop funding those classes at universities by the end of the decade.

In Ohio, 42 percent of college freshmen need remedial help. But those students are still less likely to graduate. At two-year schools nationwide, 90.5 percent of students who start in remediation do not graduate in three years, and about 65 percent of four-year students do not graduate within six years, according to Complete College America.

The organization is dedicated to more students earning certificates and degrees.

The successes and failures of the remedial system have come under scrutiny as the Ohio Board of Regents and the nation push for more people to graduate college and meet the workforce demands of the future.

Fewer than 36 percent of Ohio’s working-age adults, ages 25 to 64, now have a college degree.

However, 57 percent of new jobs created through 2018 will require higher education, according to the Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis-based organization committed to increasing college enrollment.

“The community needs students who have credentials to fill jobs that are currently going vacant,” said Kathleen Cleary, Sinclair Community College’s associate provost for student success. “We’re in it for a very practical economic goal and that’s to help students get the jobs that are going to help the economic engine of our city.”

A national trend

Ohio joins 21 other states and higher education systems either eliminating funding at the university level for what they call “developmental education” or outright prohibiting four-year schools to offer it, according to Getting Past Go, a national initiative to leverage remedial efforts.

Without taxpayer dollars, the financial burden for preparatory classes in Ohio will shift fully to four-year state schools that elect to continue remedial classes. Wright State University might be unique among Ohio’s 14 state universities because it plans to continue offering the courses.

But at other state institutions, freshmen needing remedial courses will have to take them either at community colleges or university branch campuses.

More than 102,000 students statewide required remedial help in 2009 before beginning courses, such as English 101, according to the Board of Regents.

Nationwide, an estimated $3 billion is spent annually on 1.7 million students not prepared for higher education, according to Complete College America.

With students typically paying full tuition for remedial courses — which do not count toward a degree — the system is criticized as frustrating to students, who sometimes do not even show up for their first class.

“It’s a huge obstacle,” said Stan Jones, president of the national nonprofit.

“A lot of students show up not knowing that they’ll be placed in remedial classes. For them it’s a big surprise and a big disappointment, so a lot of them quit before they even start.”

Only one of every 10 U.S. students who begin community college in remedial courses will graduate, Jones said. Some students can spend two years in those classes before even beginning work that will count toward a degree, burning time and financial aid, he said.

Only one-third of Ohio students who start a bachelor’s degree program in remedial classes will graduate within six years, according to the Board of Regents.

‘It’s what we’re here for’

Declaring community colleges “respected points of entry” for students, Ohio’s legislature voted in 2007 to phase out state funding for remedial education at university main campuses starting in 2014-15.

Community colleges say offering developmental classes is an important part of their mission.

“The knee-jerk reaction is, ‘Why should we be offering something (students) should have known before they came to us,’ ” Cleary said. “The reality is these students have needs.”

Clark State Community College offers classes on Wright State’s campus to Wright State students, said Clark State Dean Martha Crawmer. The college is also considering adding more courses at its Beavercreek campus to accommodate Wright State students who need more developmental help than the university will offer.

“It’s what we’re here for. It’s what the state of Ohio expects that we will do,” said Crawmer, who is dean of arts and sciences. “We have the students, even if it’s only for one semester, and we have a chance to see if we can change their lives.”

Clark State alumnus Rosie Mudaliar, who graduated June 9, knew she would begin her college education in remedial math and English because she had been out of high school for five years.

“The developmental classes and teachers are really helpful. It helps you later on. Don’t think that you are lower just because you are in those classes,” the 25-year-old Springfield resident said.

Mudaliar plans to continue her education at Wright State. She was the first in her family to graduate.

“My mom’s really proud of me,” she said. “She has been my motivation, because she has gone through two brain surgeries. She had brain cancer. So I have done all this for her.”

Not all affected

Not all Ohio universities will be affected by the change in state law, because some already do not offer developmental classes, including Miami University Oxford, which has strict admission requirements.

The University of Cincinnati has already phased out all but one remedial class at its main campus. That math course will be eliminated next year. The university has been cutting the classes since new admission criteria was created in 2005-06, according to spokesman Greg Hand.

Students who are not ready for entry math and English take preparatory classes at the university’s branch campuses or area community colleges.

“What we were discovering is that we were admitting students into what amounts to a rigorous academic program that they were not equipped to succeed in,” Hand said.

“If you’re not prepared, there’s a good chance you won’t succeed.”

Cincinnati did not see a drop in enrollment as it phased out remedial education, Hand said.

The University of Dayton also does not offer remedial classes, and as a private school would not be subject to the state policy regardless. The private Cedarville University does offer some remedial courses, and also would not be impacted by state law.

Three state universities will be excluded from the legislation and will still receive funding, including Central State University, a historically black institution where 45 percent of students require developmental courses.

Minority and low-income students are more likely to test below college-level courses, according to Complete College America. Of students in those courses at community colleges, nearly 68 percent are black and 65 percent are low-income.

‘A service to our students’

Wright State has decided to continue offering one course each in math and writing even after the state defunds remediation, said Thomas Sudkamp, associate provost for undergraduate studies and University College.

“It makes a lot more sense for the student to be in the Wright State environment all day rather than having to get in the car and drive somewhere else for the class. We just see that as a service for our students,” he said.

Wright State is unique among Ohio’s universities — many of which are already eliminating their developmental classes, including the University of Toledo, where 30 percent of students were unprepared for college-level math or English in 2010, according to the Board of Regents.

Cleveland State University, which has a 43 percent remediation rate, is examining the possibility of continuing their offerings, but has not yet made a final decision, said spokesman Joe Mosbrook.

Students pay full tuition for remedial classes at Wright State, although they do not earn credit, Sudkamp said. The classes do count toward a student’s courseload, for determining whether they stay on their parents’ health insurance or for financial aid.

Wright State’s cost to continue offering the courses after the state defunds them is hard to estimate because of the switch to a semester calendar from quarters this fall, he said.

Nearly $6.6 million in state funding was directed to remedial education at university main campuses in 2009. More than $25 million in state money was spent at community colleges, according to the Board of Regents. About $3.8 million went to regional university campuses. Wright State is aligning its developmental curriculum with Sinclair and Clark State as the schools move to semesters. Students who need more than one remedial class will have to receive that education at the community colleges.

Some students with math skills below the sixth-grade level will be encouraged to begin their education at Ohio’s ABLE — Adult Basic and Literacy Education — programs, where they will receive one-on-one instruction and not spend money on tuition.

“What we have found is that students who go to community colleges, who go to our regional campuses, and who spend a year or two adapting to a collegiate environment and college coursework, when they transfer, do very well,” Hand said.

Need for change

Complete College America is asking states, such as Ohio, to reconsider their funding policies, and look at building remediation into entry-level courses or offering the support at the same time that students are enrolled in their first for-credit classes, Jones said.

Sinclair is already doing that for students close to college-ready in English. They are able to enroll in the first course while taking a co-requisite providing extra instruction, Cleary said.

“It’s an exciting time for us, because we are rethinking what remedial education means on our campus,” said Cleary, who in the coming weeks will speak at Columbia University in New York on remediation.

“We are looking under every rock and investigating every promising practice across the country that we can discover because we want more students to be successful more quickly and we don’t want students being trapped in developmental education,” she said.

Sinclair has a “boot camp” for students to quickly brush up on math or English with a weeklong class that meets three hours a day. So far, 75 percent of students have been able to avoid a full term of remediation with the camp. The cost is one credit hour of tuition — which will be about $92 for Montgomery County residents under semesters.

The college has split its math remediation into two sections so students can take only what instruction they need. Clark State offers additional software-based math instruction for students to get extra practice in problem areas.

Clark State is trying a pilot this summer for students to work through math remediation as quickly as possible. Edison Community College offers a free math tutoring lab every summer.

Miami University’s branch campuses in Middletown and Hamilton will continue receiving funding for their remedial programs. The campuses offer three classes in reading, writing and pre-algebra, said Dean Michael Pratt. Additional support is available for free with math and English tutoring labs, he said.

The campuses also have summer orientation programs for students to hone their skills before starting classes and in April held a summit for high school teachers and professors to work together on ways for more students to be college ready.