Miami University trustees are voting today on a proposal to raise tuition by two percent for the fall. The hike would cover all undergraduate, graduate and regional campus students. If approved, tuition would cost nearly 270-dollars more for in-state students, or 13-thousand-500-dollars a year. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald has unveiled a plan to make college more affordable. Republicans say that plan would be a burden on taxpayers. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles has details.
Democrat Ed FitzGerald’s plan includes restoring need based college funding programs that were in place before Republican Governor John Kasich took office. FitzGerald also wants to establish a college savings account for every kindergartner in the state. FitzGerald says he’s already doing that in Cuyahoga County where he serves as the Executive.
FitzGerald - It’s not a panacea. It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden, all four years of college are going to be paid for. But every little bit helps.
Chris Schrimpf with the Ohio Republican Party says under Kasich, tuition increases have been slowed considerably or have been frozen. And he says Kasich has made it easier for high schoolers get more credits for advanced placement classes when going to college.
Schrimpf – Ed FitzGerald’s big problem is that he keeps throwing out ideas with big prices and no way to pay for them.
Schrimpf says FitzGerald would have to raise taxes to finance his plan. FitzGerald says that’s not true. He says he’d make higher ed a priority in the state budget and would fund it first.
