State rep updates Student Senate on college-connected measures

Ohio University Student Senate welcomed state Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, to its weekly meeting last Wednesday, with Phillips updating the group on the Ohio House of Representatives' recent passage of the Education Funding Protection Act.

If passed, the bill will help fill an $871 million gap in the state's current biennium budget by delaying the final phase of a planned tax reduction until 2011, Phillips said. The state would raise about $844 million in revenue, she noted.

"The (state) Supreme Court ruled recently that the proposed expansion of the lottery by placing video slots (machines) at race tracks was subject to a referendum," Phillips said. "Because it is part of the lottery, constitutionally the only place the governor could take that money by executive authority is to cut it from K-12 education."

Phillips said a ripple effect would spill over into higher education, resulting in further cuts, which is an outcome she said is unacceptable.

"We're going to have serious budget issues in the next biennium," Phillips predicted.

The state cannot rely on additional federal stimulus funds, she noted, and will have to make up the gap to balance the budget.

Phillips, an OU graduate, advised Student Senate to reach out to its constituents while the university is dealing with budget issues.

"There's not going to be one easy roadmap through these kinds of decisions," she said.

Phillips said the Ohio Legislature is continuing to focus on education as a way to get out of the ongoing economic recession.

The current state budget capped tuition increases at public universities at 3.5 percent, Phillips said.

"Coupled with the tuition freeze in the last biennium, this has been the period of the slowest tuition growth in the state of Ohio," she said. "This four-year period will make up for some really devastating increases in years previous to that."

Along with capping tuition increases, the budget provided a program called Grants for Grads, Phillips said, which gives down-payment assistance to recent graduates purchasing their first home.

"We want to try to keep some of you in Ohio and stem the brain drain the state has been faced with," she said.

Additionally, a bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives that would require universities to guarantee their students can complete a degree within the expected time frame, Phillips said.

On the federal level, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act took effect this year. Phillips said the bill, passed in 2007, allows for an income-based repayment plan for student loans, increases in Pell grants, and loan forgiveness after 25 years, or 10 years if an individual works within public service.

In other business, Senate President Robert Leary announced that Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, will be the keynote speaker at the Nov. 14-15 Ohio Student Government Association conference at OU's Baker Center.

Leary said a committee has been working to plan the event, which will be held at OU for the first time.