Ohio’s 2016-2017 budget bill was signed into law Tuesday, and includes an increase in state funding to universities and a two-year freeze of tuition rates.
Students at Ohio University will be free from tuition increases for at least the next two academic years as a result of Ohio’s biennial state budget.
The budget, which was signed into law by Governor John Kasich on Tuesday night, will prevent tuition increases for in-state students as well as increase state funding for OU and other state-funded two-year and four-year universities.
In the 2016 fiscal year, state funding for public universities will increase by 4.5 percent and in
The 2017 fiscal year it will increase by another 4.0 percent. In total, those figures would amount to around $1.9 million appropriated to universities in FY 2016 and $1.98 million in FY 2017.
The tuition freeze will overrule the 2 percent tuition increase slated for returning students not on the OHIO Guarantee this upcoming year. The increase was passed by OU’s Board of Trustees in January.
This year’s incoming freshman class at OU are already free from tuition increases for the next four years due to the OHIO Guarantee.
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While that plan increased tuition for those students by 5.1 percent, it locked in their tuition rates for four years, according to a previous Post report.
The state budget also called on universities to formulate individual plans for lowering the cost to graduate by 5 percent.
Under that provision, universities are expected to introduce their plans by September of this year.
Jeff Robinson, a spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents, said in an email that individual breakdowns for each school have not yet been determined.
Robinson added that John Carey, chancellor of the Board of Regents, was pleased with the higher education reforms in the budget.
“Ohio is adding money for higher education at a time when many states are cutting funding to public colleges and universities,” Robinson said. “This, coupled with the efforts schools are making to make higher education more affordable for students, makes this budget a win for students and Ohio.”
Additionally, the budget appropriated $10 million to fund a program that will provide grants for universities that demonstrate an effort to improve programs and stabilize student costs.
Another source of funding for universities will come from the $2 million appropriated to fund sexual assault prevention programs. In order to receive the funding, universities are expected to report a best-practices policy for combating sexual assault by Sept. 1.
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Prior to the budget’s approval, OU’s Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program, which offers support services to survivors of sexual violence, was projected to have run out of funds by October, according to previous Post reports.
The bill also specifically eliminates the requirement that OU’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine have an advisory board that reports to the Board of Trustees.
In an email sent to OU students, faculty and staff, OU President Roderick McDavis said he was proud of the efforts of state legislators to contain the costs of higher education.
“We are grateful for our legislators’ support of Ohio University's efforts to make higher education costs more predictable, more transparent and more attainable for the average Ohioan,” he said in the email.
McDavis also said OU would work with state officials to further reduce the cost of education.
“Through the years, Ohio University has implemented innovative cost containment measures in response to our legislators’ call, and we stand ready to continue this work on behalf of our students and the taxpayers of Ohio,” he said.
State Senator Lou Gentile, D-Steubenville, who represents Athens and also serves on the Senate Budget Committee, commended the budget for its efforts to curb the cost of higher education but added that it didn’t do enough to stimulate a working economy for students after they graduate.
“If we’re serious about higher education, making it affordable and accessible, we also have to make sure we have a budget that will create and sustain living-wage jobs for when students graduate,” he said.
He also said it was “unclear” to him how universities would accomplish the task of reducing tuition while also scaling back costs.
“My hope is that that doesn’t mean you get (a lower) quality of education by scaling back on programs and reductions to faculty and staff,” he said.
He also said he would have liked to see more money appropriated to local schools, governments and infrastructure, adding that his precinct lost about $2 million in K-12 funding.
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