Sinclair Community College, Cuyahoga Community College, the University of Cincinnati, Cleveland State University, Cincinnati State University and The Ohio State University would participate in the transfer program.
The new funding request is unusual because Central State is in an unusual position, said regents spokesman Jamie Abel. Because Ohio’s funding formula for public colleges is largely tied to enrollment, Central State’s low enrollment hurts the school’s ability to sustain itself.
Central State has gotten by with a special operating subsidy of about $11 million a year, Abel said.
The extra students generated by the new plan will bring added money, which would let the state gradually reduce the university’s operating subsidy. The subsidy would start to decline in 2011 and would disappear completely by 2017, according to the plan.
During the meeting, regents chairwoman Donna Alvarado asked Garland if the plan would be seen as something unique to Central State and unavailable to Ohio’s other public universities trying to grow their own enrollments. Garland said it is a special request, but the plan calls for the regents to closely monitor the school’s progress. “And when it works, other universities may be encouraged to try their own plans,” he said.
— Associated Press
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