Why don’t more of Ohio’s citizens go to college?

Kyle Bohland

Economics Major, Public Policy Minor

September 12, 2005

Higher education is falling behind in Ohio compared to the rest of the country. This is troubling because the economy is based on information and technology. Without adequate education, Ohio’s economy is going to continue to be dismal.

In a time when higher education plays such an important role in an economy, fewer students are enrolling in institutions of higher education in Ohio compared to the national average[1]. This decline can be attributed to two main reasons: Lack of preparation and lack of financial support.

Lack of preparation can be a huge factor not only to the admittance to college, but even more so to the success of college. It can be a factor that can affect many aspects of higher education. On the most basic level, if a student feels that they are not prepared for college, their fear is likely to keep them from applying even though they could very well find out later that they could succeed in a college setting. Their lack of adequate training and encouragement, however, creates a false sense of fear that could keep them away from higher education.

If a student is not prepared for college, but still decides to go, it can create problems as well. Some students that do not do particular well in high school can come to college and succeed, but this is very rare. Most likely, unprepared students are going to end up taking remedial courses to catch them up, and if they don’t, they will find themselves lost and behind. Thirty-eight percent of first-time freshmen in Ohio’s public institutions take remedial courses in their first year of college. [2] This not only forces students to spend the extra money to take more classes, but also forces institutions of higher education to offer these remedial courses that should be taught in the public school system. Taking remedial courses can start students behind in their academic careers and can discourage them quickly.

Ohio’s high school graduation rate is actually higher than the national average; however the percentage of Ohio high school graduates who go on to college is lower than the national average. Furthermore, only about half of student enrolling in a public institution in Ohio complete a four year degree or higher within six years of enrollment (Ohio Board of Regents). This means that our schools are just plain failing in the education process. A survey done by a firm, Jobs for the Future, found that fifty-seven percent of those surveyed thought that the transition from high school to college does not work well for most students, and favored better coordination between K-12 systems and colleges. Only thirty-six percent thought that the shift was an easy one[3]. This means that since high school students are woefully unprepared for college, they either do not go all together, or if they do go, over half of the students have problems with the transition.

Another reason why the participation in higher education is very poor is Ohio is the financial burden that encompasses it. Fleeting state support has left Ohio far behind the curve in educating its citizens. Ohio ranks forty-first in the nation in the amount of state support per pupil given to public universities and colleges. At Ohio’s public university main campuses, average in-state undergraduate tuition is forty-six percent higher than the national average. For all of Ohio’s two-year public institutions, average tuition was fifty-three percent higher than the national average (Ohio Board of Regents). With these extraordinary high cost, there isn’t the marginal benefit to outweigh the marginal cost of attending. Students can just go right into the work force and start earning money, opposed to spending two, four, or even more years accumulating masses amount of debt all while being trapped with the big opportunity cost of not being able to work full time. Accumulating debt and waiting a few years to start a career is becoming less and less attractive to students.

Even though there is very little state funding for higher education, seeing Ohio relies on tuition for almost forty-three percent of its funding for higher education compared to a US average of twenty-nine percent, Ohio is remarkable efficient when compared to other states. Ohio ranks forty-second in the country in four year institutions per person and twenty-seventh in the nation in persons per university (Ohio Board of Regents). Higher education institutions in Ohio have learned how to cut costs, all while improving their services with program reviews, and new administrative cost saving techniques.

This graph shows the increase in state funding for K-12 students and corrections

inmates while in the same time period state funding decreased dramatically for college students.

It is very poor public policy to not invest in higher education for Ohio’s economy, knowing that Ohio retains high proportions of its resident graduates. Seventy-eight percent of graduates at all levels remain in the state to work or attend school. This is very important for Ohio’s economy because educated people are staying in Ohio to work, live, and spend their wages.

Unless a significant amount of money is invested in higher education and high school students get better preparation for college, tuition costs will continue to reach unprecedented heights. The high tuition costs and lack of preparation will further disavow many of Ohio’s citizens from pursing higher education and keep many high school students going right into the workforce. Ohio’s economy has had slow economic growth compared to most other states in the nation since the 2001 recession (Ohio Board of Regents). The state of Ohio needs a new commitment to preparing students for higher education while putting more money into it as well, so more of the citizens can get a quality education and promote economic growth.


Bibliography

Ohio. Board of Regents. A Policy Maker's Guide to Higher Education: 2004. 1 Sept. 2004. 7 Sept. 2005 <http://www.regents.state.oh.us/kea/Policymakers9-18.pdf>.

Cavanagh, Sean. "'Disconnect' Between K-12, College Targeted." Education Week 5 Nov. 2003. EBSCO. 7 Sept. 2005. Keyword: College Expectations.

[1] American Community Survey done in 2002 from the Ohio Board of Regents publication “A Policy Maker’s Guide to Higher Education in Ohio: 2004”

[2] From an Ohio Board of Regents report “Making the Transition from High School to

College in Ohio” issued in July 2002.

[3] The survey, "Leaks in the Postsecondary Pipeline: A Survey of Americans," was issued by Jobs for the Future