As plans to implement the OHIO Guarantee move forward, we, the members of the implementation team, wish to provide further information and details surrounding this new program.
The OHIO Guarantee has taken shape over the past seven months, as we have worked to develop a program centered on addressing the requests we receive regularly from families, students, legislators and the media for a transparent and open cost structure that assures students and their families the ability to plan for meeting the costs of an undergraduate education.
As outlined to the Board of Trustees and the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents last week, the OHIO Guarantee is a program that assures a student the all-in cost structure for four full years, up to twelve terms (fall, spring and summer each year for four years). It is comprehensive in scope to assure that there will not be any unexpected costs for the entire four years.
Regarding the overarching principles that have been developed and presented, we would like to provide some additional clarity:
1. The OHIO Guarantee is a new transparent cost structure that OHIO will implement for the entering fall 2015 class upon final approval from the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. The goal of the program is to provide a clear and predictable cohort based level-rate tuition, housing, dining and fee model that assures a student and his or her family a set of comprehensive rates for the pursuit of an undergraduate degree at OHIO.
2. The legislation allows for the university to increase tuition at the state cap, plus the average rate of inflation. This is the highest rate an institution can increase. However, last year, the state cap was 2 percent and the OHIO rate increased at 1.6 percent. This example demonstrates that the goal of the administration is to limit tuition increases to only what is necessary. The Board of Trustees is required to vote each year on the cohort rate. Significant conversation within the committee and with the Board of Trustees has reaffirmed OHIO’s desire to maintain or decrease our relative cost position within the state, compared to other Ohio public institutions. We are fully aware that a large increase would negatively affect affordability for many of our prospective students.
3. The OHIO Guarantee model is seen by the implementation committee as a comprehensive program that provides support for students and encourages them to complete their degree in four years. It does provide automatic extensions of additional term(s) if a student is in a program of study that requires more than 128 hours to graduate, as well as other automatic extensions for things like unexpected significant medical issues. There will also be a committee established to review individual student requests for exceptions to the twelve-term limit.
4. If a student chooses or needs to stay an additional term beyond the twelfth, he or she will experience the same annual increase (that is, that student will pay the rate for the next cohort that started after him or her) for the next three terms, as opposed to being charged the most recent cohort available at that time. We see this as a very careful step to avoid “punishing” a student who enrolls beyond twelve terms, and which would provide an assurance of cost given that rate would have already been established and published on the bursar website. This will allow the student and family to effectively plan ahead if it is anticipated that he or she will go beyond twelve terms.
5. We expect that most students will complete their undergraduate degree by enrolling during fall and spring semesters for four years — a total of eight semesters. However, The OHIO Guarantee allows students, who require more time to complete a minor or certificate, who decide to change majors or who experience life changes resulting in the need to stop and come back within that timeline at the guaranteed rate.
6. The OHIO Guarantee, as modeled, addresses the students who stay past four years with the guarantee for four years, including summer terms. It allows for a student to complete as many undergraduate degrees or certificates as he or she wishes in that timeframe.
7. Additional information was shared at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting that also demonstrated the university’s commitment to student affordability through the new OHIO Signature scholarship program. In combination with the OHIO Guarantee, the new scholarships will, in fact, hold their value as both the costs and scholarships remain constant throughout the four years. This is possible as the costs in the OHIO Guarantee do not change, and the Signature awards also do not change so long as a student maintains renewal requirements throughout the same timeframe.
8. The OHIO Guarantee will be in effect with the class starting in fall 2015. Continuing students are not affected by the OHIO Guarantee.
The OHIO Guarantee is a new approach by OHIO University to provide transparency and predictability in student costs. We are excited to finalize its approvals and talk more with prospective students and their families about the program.
This letter was sent by the
Guaranteed Tuition Implementation Team.
Elizabeth Bennett, Institutional Research
Debra Benton, Registrar
Candace Boeninger, Admissions
Craig Cornell, Chair, Enrollment Management
John Day, Executive Vice President and Provost
Sherry Downs, Bursar
Austin LaForest, Student Senate
Valerie Miller, Financial Aid
Chad Mitchell, Finance and Administration
Renea Morris, University Communications and Marketing
Shawn Ostermann, Faculty Member
Ann Paulins, Faculty Member
Don Pendergast, Office of Information Technology
Tom Perry, Office of Information Technology
Beth Quitslund, Faculty Senate
Kris Sano, General Accounting
Gwyn Scott, Auxillary Services
Duane Starkey, Office of Information Technology
Peter Trentacoste, Residential Housing
