Several factors threaten the survival of OCOG grants for career college students:

The Recession

Across the nation, many state and local governments are in awful financial shape. The worldwide economic recession has caused millions to lose their jobs and thousands of companies to shut down. Even many of those fortunate to remain employed have cut back drastically on spending. Those who need to borrow money often can’t – credit is very tight and even more banks may fail. It all means that money state and local governments receive through income, sales and other taxes have plummeted.

Unlike the federal government, Ohio’s constitution requires its two-year budget to be balanced: It is “against the law” for state government to spend more than it takes in. Even after cuts were made in 2008, for the next 2 years, our state is expected to take in $7.3 billion less than it needs to maintain current levels of funding across the many programs it supports – roads, Medicaid for the poor and primary, secondary and higher education, to name just a few.

While the U.S. Congress approved a $787 billion “economic stimulus bill” in mid-February, huge gaps in Ohio’s budget remain. Additional and severe cuts, probably across the board, will have to be made – and that may include the money that provides financial assistance to students who attend Ohio’s career colleges.

We’re being “separated out”

Equally important, the governor’s chancellor of higher education, Eric Fingerhut, has submitted a plan to state legislators which “separates out” grant funding to Ohio’s career and other private colleges – and cuts it by more than half.

The OCOG program is currently available to all financially-qualifying students pursuing at least an associate degree – from any accredited Ohio college or university. But now, Governor Strickland and Chancellor Fingerhut are proposing that OCOG assistance should be available to only students attending public 4-year universities and community colleges. For career colleges (also called proprietary schools) and for all other private colleges, the chancellor wants to establish “block grant” programs – one for the private colleges; the other for career colleges. For the first time, colleges would directly receive the money to disburse to students. Most career colleges are saying they do not want the state to give them money; they want the money to go directly to students to use at the college of our choice. And, they want their students to be treated like any other student pursuing higher education in Ohio.

Over the 2-year budget cycle, private colleges and universities would receive $40 million each year (under this block grant proposal). Career colleges would receive $30 million each year – less than half each year than what their students are expected to receive in state fiscal year 2009.

Dependence upon one-time federal funding

While none the new federal “economic stimulus” money is earmarked for private or career colleges, the governor and chancellor have pledged a staggering $100 million to the state’ public universities and community colleges in the FY 2010-2011 proposed budget. What‘s to happen when this one-time money is gone and its time to fund the entire higher education state grants budget for FY 2012-2013?