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Do IT this week: Layering
10-year plan aims to raise number in state with degree, keep them here, lure out-of-staters
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal
Published on Tuesday, Apr 01, 2008
The head of higher education in Ohio on Monday sought to breathe new life into the late Gov. James Rhodes' pledge to have a college campus within ''30 miles of every boy and girl.''
That means ramping up programming at regional campuses and community colleges, developing early college programs for high school students and establishing well-oiled systems to transfer courses between institutions.
''We have to raise the educational attainment of Ohio,'' Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, said of the state's lackluster ranking — 37th nationwide in the percentage of working adults with at least a bachelor's degree.
Fingerhut released a 10-year plan for higher education in Ohio. The 140-page report includes dozens of recommendations to increase the number of residents with college degrees, from associates to doctorates, which could enhance entrepreneurship and attract businesses to the state.
The goal is to graduate more students, keep more graduates in Ohio and attract more degree-holders from out of state.
Fingerhut said the plan works with Gov. Ted Strickland's goal to have 230,000 more students enrolled in college by 2017.
Fingerhut is aiming to increase the number of nontraditional students 25 and older to half the college population, to increase the number of first-generation graduates to one-third of the degrees conferred and to hike the percentage of degrees to African-American and Hispanic students to 14 percent, their percentage of the state population.
Costly to implement
While institutions can implement some parts of the plan themselves, much of it requires infusions of money.
The Ohio General Assembly would have to allocate at least $420 million a year just to bring the state to the national average in subsidies, said Bruce Johnson, president of the Interuniversity Council, representing the 13 state universities and the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy.
''The legislature will have to rearrange its priorities'' to come up with that money ''when it comes to budget time,'' he said.
To spur cooperation among the universities, Fingerhut would increase the revenue to institutions that align with the state model. Schools would get incentives for private fund-raising and rewards for operating efficiently through a new office that monitors spending.
The state would create an endowment to aid individual school efforts. Fingerhut recommends that the state invest $10 million a year for 10 years and locate matching funds to create a $1 billion endowment that would distribute at least $50 million a year in need-based funding.
Centers of excellence
At the same time, institutions are being encouraged to invest in world-class centers of excellence that distinguish them from each other.
That would end what Fingerhut sees as a counterproductive competition for money, students and faculty — especially in Northeast Ohio, where the University of Akron, Kent State University, Cleveland State University and Youngstown State University are clustered.
At UA, the centers of excellence probably will be polymer science, industrial and organizational psychology and engineering, President Luis Proenza said.
As previously announced, Fingerhut wants the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy in nearby Rootstown Township — the only free-standing medical college in the state — to expand its presence in Cleveland and Akron, add Cleveland State to its medical school consortium and be headed by independent trustees, not representatives of the consortium universities.
He is encouraging all state institutions to go on the semester plan, which is made up of two 16-week terms during the school year and shorter summer sessions. Most schools are on semesters, but some — most notably, Ohio State — are not.
A universal calendar for all institutions would help students change colleges and take courses from more than one university, he said.
More lower-cost choices
Perhaps the biggest key to increasing the number of graduates is to boost the lower-cost ways that they can go to college, Fingerhut said.
He had suggestions for that, too: linking all 23 community colleges into a shared course and program network; enabling technical colleges to offer associate of arts and associate of science degrees, the two degrees most easily transferred to a university for credit toward a bachelor's degree; and bringing a community college to the Mahoning Valley via existing facilities by the 2010-11 school year.
Charlene Reed, secretary of the Kent State board of trustees, said her institution would do everything possible to cooperate with the plan.
Still. many parts remain to be clarified, she said. ''Like they say, the devil is in the details,'' she said.
PLAN HIGHLIGHTSHere are highlights of Chancellor Eric Fingerhut's 10-year plan for higher education in Ohio.
By 2017, the state would:
Increase the current college and university enrollment of 472,000 by 230,000 students.
Double the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in the coveted STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and math - at all academic levels, from 12,312 today to 24,624.
Increase the number of degrees awarded to black and Hispanic students at all levels to equal their percentage in the state's population. Currently, about 9 percent of degrees go to these minorities, who represent 14 percent of the population.
Double the amount of endowment and foundation money per full-time equivalent student, from $10,573 to $21,146.
Become one of the top 10 states in low-cost tuition and fees for a combined associate and bachelor's degree at a community college.
More than double the number of students engaged in internships and co-operative programs, from 46,500 to 100,000. These programs give students work experience and provide contacts to help keep them in Ohio, officials. say.
Increase the amount of state money spent on higher education by $420 million to bring Ohio to the national average in terms of state support.
Increase the number of foreign students studying in Ohio from 13,500 to 35,000 and the number of Ohioans studying abroad from 6,300 to 16,500.
Source: Ohio Board of Regents' Strategic Plan for Higher Education, 2008-2017.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
The head of higher education in Ohio on Monday sought to breathe new life into the late Gov. James Rhodes' pledge to have a college campus within ''30 miles of every boy and girl.''
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