High Tuition a Political Football

By Luke E. Saladin

Thanks in large part to the rising cost of attending college, higher education is expected to be a hot-button issue on the political radar in the coming year.

Bills have been introduced in both the Kentucky and Ohio legislatures that would freeze tuition increases at public universities and that would otherwise make college more affordable. And both candidates in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race say addressing tuition will be a priority in their campaigns.

The reason for the attention is clear: freshman entering Kentucky public universities will pay from 9 to 11 percent more than last year’s freshman class. Tuition at some universities has increased more than 100 percent over the past decade.

The Kentucky General Assembly doesn’t meet in regular session again until January, but already no less than five bills have been pre-filed aimed at addressing higher education concerns, particularly the cost of attending college.

House Bill 19, proposed by Rep. Rick G. Nelson, D-Middlesboro, would freeze tuition rates at public universities through the 2009- 2010 school year, and tie all increases after that to the Consumer Price Index.

Officials say they are caught in a quandary: If they impose tuition limits, it would make college more affordable but possibly hinder universitys’ ability to develop academic programs.

“Higher education is always going to be one of the top priorities in any given year,” said Kentucky Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Springs. “I think in Kentucky, we’re really fortunate that despite the tuition increases, education here is still a bargain compared with many other parts of the country. Hopefull,y we can find a way to keep it affordable.”

One pre-filed bill would increase the amount of state-funded scholarship money. Another would require a study of the cost of textbooks, which has also risen dramatically in recent years.

In Ohio earlier this week, GOP leaders proposed a higher education package that would freeze tuition at public universities over the next two years.

Those measures would increase scholarships to students at two- year and technical colleges by $10 million over the House-passed budget and provide $50 million in state matching money for colleges and universities to use to attract top national scientists to teach in the state.

The bills are designed to promote an economy of high paying science-based jobs.

“There are some that have suggested that a two-year tuition freeze in Ohio is too expensive for the state budget,” Republican Sen. Randy Gardner of Bowling Green said at a news conference announcing the plan. “Respectfully, but clearly, we would say that allowing tuition to increase in Ohio is too expensive for students and families.”

Legislators across the river aren’t so sure a similar plan would work in Kentucky due to the lack of funding available from the state.

“The problem is that we are a poverty state and we don’t have the economic base that Ohio does,” said Rep. Jon Draud, R-Edgewood, vice- chairman of the House Education Committee. “Of course we would love to freeze tuition, but that is the only way universities can make up the difference between what they need and what the state gives them in funding each year.”

Draud agrees that more needs to be done to get students to major in math and sciences classes. He points to a bill in the 2007 General Assembly that would have offered salary increases to teachers whose students test well in math and science.

The bill also would have provided scholarship money to students who excelled in those areas.

“If we don’t do something about our math and science scores, we’re going to become a second-rate country,” Draud said. “Right now, we’re graduating about 70,000 engineers a year, while places like India and China have something like 200,000.”

The cost of higher education is also expected to figure prominently in the Kentucky’s gubernatorial race this November.

Marty Ryall, campaign manager for Gov. Ernie Fletcher, said he would continue pushing his Covenant with Kentucky plan in the coming months to help address the increasing cost of tuition.

The plan, Ryall said, would establishment academic standards for children beginning with this fall’s eighth-grade classes. If those standards were met through their high school graduation, those students would be given scholarships to a state university.

“A lot of kids are dropping out of school before they graduate because a lot of those students feel they have no chance to attend college anyway because of the cost,” Ryall said. “Education has always been one of the governor’s highest priorities and that will continue.”

Robert Kellar, communications director for Democratic challenger Steve Beshear, Fletcher’s opponent on the November ballot, said his candidate wants to address the high cost of attending college through Kentucky First Scholarships, as well as lobbying the General Assembly to put more money from the state’s general fund into education.

The scholarships would act as loans to cover the cost of a four- year college, Kellar said. Each year after graduation that the student remains in Kentucky to work, a year of the loan would be forgiven.

That means students would be able to attend college free of charge if they commit to work in the state for four years after they graduate, Kellar said.

“The program would help us address two problems in Kentucky,” Kellar said.

“It would make college affordable to anyone who wanted to go and it would also help stop the brain drain in Kentucky and give us a highly educated workforce.”

Rather than look at education in a vacuum, Kentucky Rep. Dennis Keene, D-Wilder, said officials should approach higher education as a tool for economic development.

“There are two things businesses look for,” Keene said. “One is location, the other is an educated workforce. The future of Kentucky’s economiy requires that we offer quality education that people can afford.”

Keene said he would like state officials to look at how private schools spend their money.

“I think we need to look at how they operate,” Keene said. “It just seems like the private schools are getting more bang for their buck. We need to figure out how to harness that in public education.”

Text of fax box follows:

College costs spiral

1997-98 tuition 2007-08 tuition Change over last year

NKU $1,800 $5,952 9.3%

TMC $11,250 $20,500 none

UC $4,359 $9,399 none

XAVIER $13,650 $24,660 5.8%

(c) 2007 Cincinnati Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.