Several Ohio University students and administrators traveled to Columbus on Tuesday for the unveiling of a report by the Complete College Ohio Task Force.
Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Jim Petro commissioned the task force to present recommendations on how to increase the number of Ohioans holding college degrees.
The task force is one of two Board of Regents groups OU President Roderick McDavis is serving on, said Jennifer Kirksey, chief of staff to the president.
Though McDavis could not attend the conference, OU Student Trustees Allison Arnold and Amanda Roden as well as Trustee David Brightbill were present. In addition, OU Board of Trustees Secretary Peter Mather and Director of the Allen Student Help Center Jennifer Klein went to the meeting.
“Our university's mission and commitment to students to help them realize their promise is in accordance with the Chancellor's Complete College initiative,” McDavis said in a statement. “We believe in access to a higher education and we hold mightily to our responsibility to assist our students on their path to a degree.”
The report presented 20 recommendations that aim to raise graduation rates by focusing on academic success in students’ first years and developing foundations to increase student success.
Though it acknowledges efforts that can be made statewide to raise graduation rates, the report’s hallmark suggestion is that each Ohio institution put in place a campus-specific plan to encourage degree completion.
One recommendation refers to future strategies to make college more affordable for Ohio students. The task force advocates offering contractual, four-year tuition guarantees for students — and then raising tuition to out-of-state rates for students who don’t follow the plan.
The majority of the recommendations don’t request new state policies, Mather said. Rather, they suggest Ohio public universities implement new institutional practices to encourage timely graduation.
Though this year’s conference focused on the Complete College Ohio report, Ohio University trustees meet every year for development purposes — similar to the OU Board of Trustees annual retreat, Arnold said.
“Amanda (Roden) and I had a conversation with the student trustees from the University of Akron,” Arnold said. “We came back excited about some of the things happening at other universities … while also remembering that there's a lot of things (OU is) doing well when you compare us on the state level.
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