Students in Ohio’s state universities share a similar responsibility with students in Illinois—funding nearly 40 percent of instructional costs.

To counter this, Ohio has set a goal to increase the state’s responsibility taking some of the burden of cost off students. The goal is a national average in which the state would fund two-thirds of instructional costs and one-third would be funded by students, said Linda Ogden, administrator of public relations for the Ohio Board of Regents.

Currently, Ohio has a formula system for student fees and the state appropriates costs for courses, she said.

The Ohio Board of Regents, similar to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, is the coordinating board for universities in state. Each university is autonomous, has a separate governing board and sets its own budgets.

The students in Ohio’s universities paid 33 percent of instructional funding in 1980 and this rose to 47 percent in 1983 due to the state’s economic problems, Ogden said.

“The legislature was involved in an economic crisis and there were not enough funds to provide a quality education, so in order to counteract that, they had to raise student fees,” she said.

Ohio’s students currently fund 41 percent of costs, despite a drop to 36 percent in 1987. Ogden said Ohio is “quite concerned over what will happen.”

Ross Hodell, IBHE spokesman, said the IBHE just adopted such a policy where the two-thirds is state funded and and one-third is student funded. Tuition percentages at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana is higher than the one-third recommended level. Students pay half of the cost at U of I, he said.

The tuition at Illinois’ Board of Regents schools funds 40 percent of instructional costs. The Board of Regents governs NIU, Illinois State University in Normal and Sangamon State University in Springfield.

Ken Beasley, assistant to NIU President John LaTourette, said the policy would change the 40 percent which students currently pay to 33 and one-third percent funded in tuition. The remaining 66 and two-thirds percent would be state-funded. He said the policy would offer access for more people and they would not be denied for financial reasons.

Hodell said the Illinois legislature is debating the policy and tuition is a major issue. Of the three bills that failed to pass the Illinois House Higher Education Committee, Hodell said the bill that ties tuition to the cost of living index has a good chance of passing.

He said the tuition disputes fall under three camps—those who think it is too high, those who think it is too low and those who favor the one-third tuition and two-third state funding policy. The same opinions are being expressed in the state legislature that were expressed at the IBHE meeting last fall.

Ogden said the policy has been Ohio’s goal for the past 25 years.