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State extends tuition freeze

Jillian Engel

Students at Miami University and other Ohio schools can rest assured tuition will not increase for the 2009-10 academic year.

On main campuses, the statewide tuition freeze will continue for another year and can not increase more than 3.5 percent for the 2010-11 academic year, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced in his State of the State address Wednesday. Community colleges and regional campuses will maintain the tuition freeze for two more years.

University System of Ohio Chancellor Eric Fingerhut called the tuition freeze an "unprecedented and historic commitment to affordability" in a Jan. 28 press release.

"By the end of fiscal year 2011, Ohio will have held tuition growth to the lowest rate for a four-year period since before 1970," Fingerhut said.

From a Miami perspective, the tuition freeze represents the governor's consistent commitment to high education, according to Miami spokesperson, Claire Wagner.

"Miami is so grateful to the governor for maintaining a very high importance on higher education," she said. "He understands that higher education is in the roots (of a) successful economy for this state."

Wagner said the university will continue to work toward its goal of enrolling 3,500 students for the class of 2013, despite the news of a continued tuition freeze. The university will need to cap the number of students because of the two-year on-campus living requirement and space limitations in residence halls.

Education for all ages

Strickland called for action to improve the "realities of (Ohio's) budget situation" by refining Ohio's education system without raising taxes.

Strickland's plan does not focus on just higher education, though, but on an "evidence-based education approach" to unite Ohio students from pre-schools through college.

"It is absolutely clear to me that simply tinkering with centuries-old education practices will not prepare Ohio's children for success in college, in the workplace or in life," Strickland said.

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The "evidence-based" approach includes changes such as required "innovative" teaching formats, adding 20 instruction days to the school calendar over a 10-year period, implementing all-day kindergarten, placing intervention services in schools with high dropout rates and replacing the Ohio Graduation Test with the ACT college entrance test.

However, State Rep. Tim Derickson (R-Oxford) is unsure if the governor's new programs will be possible if sufficient funds are nonexistent.

"I was just doing simple math when he was sharing these things and kept thinking, 'How much is this going to cost?'" Derickson said.

In his address, Strickland said he would provide funds for the new education provisions without raising Ohio taxes by cutting state programs 10 to 20 percent, leveraging existing resource and one-time cash transfers and increasing various state fees, fines and penalties. The governor also said he will leverage $3.4 billion in expected federal stimulus funds that are specifically designated for state fiscal relief.

"If he is able to accomplish what he wants to accomplish without raising taxes and holding tuition where it is now, that would be great," Derickson said. "But in my mind, the math just doesn't work. Until we get that budget and until we get those details, I'm just not sure how everything's going to get done."

Strickland will announce his budget for the next two years Feb. 2, a plan that will include a $925 million increase designated for education, Strickland spokesperson Amanda Wurst said.

"The governor has made tough choices as Ohio and the nation have faced tough economic challenges," Wurst said. "This budget will be no exception. He will make tough choices to not only balance the budget but to invest in what matters to Ohio, like education."


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