Graphs - Comparison With Other States

Ohio has under-funded need-based student aid for decades, but policy initiatives from two years ago have made the problem more acute than ever.

Ohio's independent colleges held the line on tuition increases this year, compared to their peers in the Midwest region.

If you count only those campuses that award undergraduate degrees, Ohio's ranking climbs to a tie for fifth place.

If you count only those campuses that award undergraduate degrees, Ohio's ranking climbs to a tie for fifth place.

Recent data is consistent with Ohio's longstanding conundrum: Its population is better educated that the nation's at the the high school level, but less well educated at the bachelor's degree level.

Ohio's independent colleges have worked to hold tuition levels down.

While a growing percentage of younger adults in Ohio and in the nation as a whole are in college or graduate school, the share of older adults continuing their education still lags.

Ohio's slow improvement in its baccalaureate attainment rate places it in the middle of neighboring states, but still considerably below the nation's rate.

A report by the Pew Research Center confirms, as did Gov. Taft's Committee on Higher Education and the Economy, that Ohio has not been an attractive destination for interstate migration, even as it has been able to retain those who were born here.

A more detailed explanation of states' "stickiness" and "magnetism" is available at the AICUO weblog, www.aicuoblog.blogspot.com, including a link to the full report and a clever interactive display of the raw data.

Although there are regional differences, the inflation rate of goods and services bought by colleges and universities for 2008-09 was half that of the previous year.

Cuts in need-based student aid in Ohio threaten the state's continued improvement in college participation among its low-income residents.

An increasing percentage of low-income Ohioans are attending college - in recent years outpacing the nation as a whole.

Ohio's independent colleges offer excellend value compared to their peers nationally.

Ohio’s four-year colleges and universities — both independent and public — meet or exceed national norms on their graduation rates: the share of their freshmen who complete their degrees four, five, or six years after first enrolling.

Like its neighboring states, Ohio continues to lag the nation in the share of its adult population with a bachelor's degree.

Demographic changes pose both threats and opportunities to higher education, as even Ohio's neighbors show considerable variation in the rate of change in high school graduations.

Median Family Income v. Educational Attainment By State, 2006

Source: US Census Bureau

States whose populations have proportionately more bachelor's degrees than Ohio also have higher family incomes.

Although Ohio's youger population is increasingly better educated, the state still has work to do just to even reach the nation's average.

Projections of Change in Public High School Grads

Ohio colleges and universities face substantial demographic challenges in the coming years, as the number of high school graduates available to continue to higher education will start to fall off precipitously.