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Cleveland
Plain Dealer...
College students
present policy ideas to state senators: Higher Education
By Karen Farkas
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Students from the University of Akron’s Bliss
Institute of Applied Politics got a firsthand look at how higher
education policy evolves when they presented a proposal to state
legislators recently.
Their idea is to raise tuition to fund expanded learning communities
for low-income, first-generation college students.
The students say the communities, in which 20 to 30 students typically
attend class, study and live together during their freshman year,
result in more success and better retention.
They presented their ideas, which included allowing universities that
participate in a pilot program to increase tuition 0.5 percent to
provide funding, to members of Gov. John Kasich’s staff and legislators
who participated in the first Ohio Student Education Policy Institute.
A total of 26 students from Akron, Ohio University’s Voinovich School
of Leadership and Public Affairs and Ohio State University’s Glenn
School of Public Affairs, spent three months researching and developing
changes to higher education policies to help students. Last week they
presented their ideas to members of Gov. John Kasich’s staff,
legislators and the Senate Finance Committee in Columbus.
OSU students proposed changes, including setting goals and a timeline,
to the state’s new teacher educator program, which requires more
classroom training for college students. The changes would improve
teaching in Ohio schools, they said.
OU students proposed standardizing and expanding dual-enrollment
programs, in which high school juniors and seniors take college courses
while in high school.
The institute was coordinated by the Ohio College Access Network, a
statewide coordinating body for college programs. Legislators were
impressed with the presentations, said Dessa Augsburger, assistant
director of communications for OCAN, in an e-mail.
“The committee suggested that students follow up with their offices and
begin the process to get their legislation drafted,” she wrote.
“Several of the students expressed interest in pursuing the senators’
suggestion.”
Lakeland partners with four-year colleges: Nine four-year colleges will
offer bachelor’s and graduate degrees at Lakeland Community College’s
new center across from the entrance to its Kirtland campus.
Cleveland State University, Franklin University, Kent State University,
Lake Erie College, Ohio University, the University of Akron, the
University of Toledo, Ursuline College, and Youngstown State University
will offer degree programs in a variety of disciplines including
business, nursing, education, engineering and public safety.
Cleveland State already offers several degree programs at Lakeland.
Lakeland trustees will lease a 40,000-square-foot building being built
by Premier Development Partners at Ohio 306 and Kirtland Road.e. The
building will be named the Holden University Center, after Arlene and
Arthur Holden, long-time higher education supporters and local
philanthropists. Arthur Holden, who died in 2008, served on the
Lakeland board from 1965 to 1975 and led the drive to raise $1.5
million for the construction of the college’s first permanent campus.
Students may visit www.lakelandcc.edu/uc to sign up to receive
information about the degree programs as they become available. They
should be announced by May.
Read it at the Cleveland Plain Dealer
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