College Credits, Higher Education Reform Part Of State Budget Proposal
Feb 9, 2015 12:00 AM
2015-02-09T00:00:00
Saturday, January 31, 2015
College Credits, Higher Education Reform Part Of State Budget Proposal
By Randy Ludlow & Maria DeVito
DAYTON — Gov. John Kasich hopes to make higher education more affordable and more accessible to more students — from high school to adult learners — through the two-year state budget he will roll out on Monday.
Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor went to Sinclair Community College on Friday to announce that lawmakers will be asked to permit two-year community colleges to award bachelor’s degrees in certain disciplines.
Businesses — such as information and engineering technology firms — that demand job skills requiring four-year degrees could have their needs met by community colleges if universities don’t offer the appropriate classes for students. The students, in turn, would pay less tuition at a two-year school.
Under another proposal, older students could receive college credit for what they have learned outside classrooms to give them an inexpensive head start in pursuing a degree. College presidents would be asked to prepare a plan involving a limited number of courses.
In a bid to reduce the cost of a degree, Kasich would provide $18.5 million in “College Credit Plus” funding to permit high schools to offer advanced classes and reward those with high enrollment in the college-credit courses.
Kasich would give $13.5 million of that amount over two years to high schools in economically stressed areas to help pay for teachers to take college courses to qualify them to teach college-level courses.
Jack Hershey, president of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, said if lawmakers approve, two-year schools could begin offering advanced classes toward bachelor’s degrees in 18 to 24 months.
He called the plan “groundbreaking.”
“It would allow high-school students and their families to be able to save thousands of dollars on college costs and also help speed students’ time to achieving a degree,” he said. “We sat down with the four-year universities and worked it out. In most other states, it’s been a bloody turf war.”
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