Ohio universities often issue students proof of residency letters to help them vote. Many of these students are from out of state or another county.
The provision would make students who receive these letters eligible for in-state tuition, which could cost Ohio colleges millions of dollars.

The measure’s proponents say it would give students better tuition rates.

But OSU senior Kenneth Meyers, of Kansas, said that is the wrong way to go about reducing tuition. And Kenneth said he fears universities will stop providing the documentation.

“If they find out they can’t vote here in Ohio then maybe they’ll miss the deadline and they can’t vote in their home state. So, this should be something we celebrate and make easily accessible,” Meyers said.

OSU junior Michael Flannagan, of Maryland, said the provision is a blatant attempt to stifle the college vote.

“We are subject to the same laws in Ohio. We are subject to the same taxes, to the same sales taxes, we are subject to the same rules of Ohio. Try to use money as an excuse to take away our right to vote is wrong.”

Ohio State said it continues to analyze the measure. University spokeswoman Gayle Saunders said “the financial impact to OSU would be of concern to us.”

Last fall, nearly 1,200 out-of-state freshmen were enrolled at OSU.

There wasn’t much fanfare inside the offices of Ohio Academic Resources Network, or OARNet. In fact, it looked like a generic meeting was going on – Gov. John Kasich standing before a group of administration officials, technicians and reporters, facing a monitor that showed a room full of equipment and wires.

“Light the network, Paul,” Kasich said.

The governor gives the order to a technician in that room to connect some wires and unite the state’s academic institutions on a network that’s 10 times faster than it was a few seconds before.

Governor, the network is operational.

With that, Ohio became the first state to launch a 100 gigabyte network statewide. And then, projected on the wall between the governor and the monitor – nine video links pop up simultaneously from universities all across the state.

“Why don’t we hear from Portsmouth first? Southern Ohio, we’re thrilled to have you involved.”

“And Governor, we’re thrilled to be part of this process….”

The governor made his way around the grid of video links, talking to the two people in each of the nine cities – from Cleveland to Athens to Dayton to Akron. One in each city was a university professor, and the other a business owner or an academic with business expertise, to highlight how the state hopes this new 100 gigabytes per second network will be used.

The universities say the network helps bring researchers together and could get intellectual property developed in them out into the economy. Frank Calzonetti is with the University of Toledo.

We see that this enhanced capability will allow us to increase our research and educational collaboration with other universities throughout Ohio and throughout the world, and increase our ability to interact with business as well.

The business leaders talked about how the high-speed network can help share big packets of data such as medical imaging, video simulations, and other information that can benefit manufacturing, data mining and analytics, alternative energy development, consumer products and medicine.

Tom Lange is with Proctor and Gamble in Cincinnati.

This data highway speed boost is a big win for Ohio and it puts us on the 21st century digital highway. It’s going to help big businesses like P&G but mid-size and small firms developing as well.

The network doesn’t just link the universities to each other – they’re also hooked up with Internet2, a high speed nationwide network. Businesses would have to partner with universities to get access to the network, which the state also plans to use as a tool to lure more business to Ohio.

John Conley is the chief of educational technology with the Ohio Board of Regents, which oversees higher education. He uses a roadway analogy to describe this superfast superhighway.

We’ve basically taken 71 and 70, and made it ten stories high.

“So we’ve made it all – you can pass so much traffic on that. And then as people build tributaries to it, think about where that branches. It’s almost like a tree. It just goes from there, just keeps branching.”

Despite the obvious advantages – for example, the ability to download movies or send big batches of family pictures and videos in just seconds – the average Ohioan won’t be able to access the network. But Conley and others say Ohioans will benefit from improved products, more jobs and a better state economy.

The state spent $13 million to upgrade the network, which officials had hoped to have up and running earlier this year, but the plan was delayed when the decision was made to expand it to Portsmouth and Wooster.

“If universities can operate more nimbly, more flexibly with more freedom of action and recognizing that they are responsible managers and fiduciaries who are providing the governance and oversight. Then I think they will save money, they will have more opportunity to enact policies and procedures that will allow them to partner with businesses whether it be through research or commercialization,” Petro said.

Some of the proposed mandate relief would include ability to set term lengths for board officers, create different tuition and fees for space and facility reasons and eliminate enrollment caps.

Public universities will have the opportunity to receive additional mandate relief by becoming a so-called Enterprise University. As part of an agreement with the Board of Regents, the institution would aspire to reach goals set by the regents.

For schools looking to receive the most autonomy, they would be required to meet certain benchmarks including a five-year graduation rate of 75 percent and first and second year retention rates of 85 percent. They also would be required to give up part of their state money for a new elite scholarship program. These schools in turn would have the right to sell real estate without General Assembly approval and have more leeway on construction projects, among other regulation breaks.

Ann Brennan is chairman of the board from the University of Akron. She said it’s “maybe” an excellent idea.

“Up until now we’ve been used to being a government entity and this is going to be a big change. We need to study it at the University of Akron to see how we fit in the metrics that are being proposed. So I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Brennan said.

Petro said the plan would not make universities less transparent … although it does allow for executive sessions with specified internal auditors and for matters dealing with proprietary information.

The General Assembly has to approve the plans. If it passes, it would take effect next July.

The University System of Ohio will include 13 public universities, 23 public two-year colleges, the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and several adult career centers.

Strickland says he wants a 10-year plan developed to set benchmarks and timelines for higher education.

The governor says the new system will create what he calls a “new, Ohio birthright access for every Ohioan to an affordable, world class higher education.”

His plan would lower property taxes for all senior citizens who are homeowners as well as people who are permanently disabled and own homes.

That proposal would cost the state $386 million over two years.

Strickland wants to save money by ending a sales tax break for out-of-state residents who buy cars in Ohio. That would save taxpayers $130 million over two years.

He also wants to save $74 million by reducing a tax break that vendors receive for turning in sales tax receipts on time.

Eliminating that break would mostly hurt big retailers such as department stores.

At a time when Ohio ranks 40th nationwide in its financial assistance to public colleges, the Ohio Student Choice Grant’s blind eye to financial need sparks debate about its approach to aid. The Ohio Board of Regents declined to discuss on the program, insisting the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio understood its importance much better.

President of the AICUO, Todd Jones, claims the grant is a fair and crucial part of the aid packages the Board of Regents gives each year. He says, “In the same way that the subsidy to public institutions’ undergraduates is made on the basis of their citizenship in Ohio, so is the discounted benefit in the Ohio Choice Grant.”

He adds its aims are the same as they were when the General Assembly began the program in 1983, explaining that, “The idea was twofold. One: increase the number of students who are remaining in our state to encourage them to then live their lives in Ohio and grow their families here and careers. And two: that after paying state taxes, that investment is in some small way made up for by this subsidy of the Ohio Choice Grant.”

Jones insists the grant program has made good on its original purpose. When it took effect in the mid-1980s forty percent of the students enrolled in the state’s private colleges were from Ohio. Since then, it has climbed to seventy percent.

But to Education Policy Director at the Buckeye Institute, Matthew Carr, the program has strayed from its original intentions. He says, “The grants were designed to provide students with help going to one of Ohio’s private colleges. I think now, however, it has sort of grown into a program that basically is there to assist students with going to private colleges that probably don’t need the help.”

Jones on the other hand argues the Choice Grant does not favor wealthy students. He cites research saying four out of ten undergrads at both public and private colleges in Ohio reported family incomes of less than fifty-thousand dollars per year. In fact, he says, the grant could help them meet their last sliver of need. “If after Federal Pell Grants, after grants from the institution, your remaining need is three thousand dollars, nine hundred is actually a significant part of what you ultimately would otherwise need to pay.”

The Student Choice Grant is not the only grant the Board of Regents gives out each year. It distributes aid through ten other programs, most of which are based on need or special circumstances. Students can receive a maximum of twenty-five hundred dollars for a public school and five thousand for a private one. Despite disagreements between the Independent Colleges group and the Buckeye Institute, each of their representatives calls for change in Ohio’s approach to higher education. Carr of the Buckeye Institute says the state should adopt a student-centered funding system:

“Right now we have this piecemealed system of funding our higher education. We have multiple grant programs, scholarship programs, categories, budgets. I think the best way would be to fund our higher education system so that as each student decides which college or university that they want to go to based on their needs, that the money goes with them to that institution.”

Carr proposes such a system would eliminate the dark corners where money collects as financial processes become more complicated. He says it would ensure Ohio’s students get the best education and the tax dollars that fund student financial aid find the most direct route to the lecture hall.