AICUO in the News
Please contact Mary Cianciolo for media inquiries
News Articles
“Philosophically, there is a difference between public institutions and private institutions in how we operate and how we are held accountable."
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Budget would expand state oversight following college closures
“AICUO understands the state’s efforts to further open the lines of communication between its higher education institutions and the Chancellor. Working with the Department of Higher Education will help campuses provide a positive experience for students and alumni."
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Budget ties public university funding to SB1 adherence
“Members of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio successfully lobbied senators to strike that language and an additional requirement that private nonprofit colleges agree to admit any Ohioan in the top 10% of his or her graduating class in order to participate in the scholarship program."
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Ohio Senate budget alters the Governor’s Merit Scholarship, ties funds to Senate Bill 1 compliance
“It’s important that we retain students in Ohio and keep our best and brightest here."
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Senate calls for changes to the Ohio Governor's scholarship program
“We heard from many of the private universities and they brought up valid points regarding that many of them, by their mission, are, for example, religiously affiliated, And so they are going to have certain beliefs, certain ideals, certain things that they, through their mission, are going to try to impact upon their students."
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“There is a process for reallocating donor funds when an institution is winding down. The key is you have to work through the attorney general's office and get permission before taking these actions. The attorney general's allegation is that didn't happen."
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Ohio private college presidents ask to get rid of proposed changes to Governor's Merit Scholarship
“Our concerns are about the very nature of our institutions and what it means to be a private, nonprofit institution. … When the state dictates our missions, board structures, curriculum, hiring practices, workloads, and public engagement, the autonomy that defines nonprofit institutions disappears."
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Private colleges want House budget mandates removed
“The House-passed version of the budget seeks to overturn that wonderful work and tells Ohio's best and brightest that they should look outside of the state for college."
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Ohio private universities could lose scholarship money if they keep DEI programs
“AICUO is disappointed that Ohio House leadership is telling Ohio’s best and brightest students that their only choice for higher education will be a public university by placing unrealistic burdens for participation on Ohio’s independent colleges."
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Ohio private colleges may soon be subject to higher ed overhaul provisions
“There is the appearance of an exemption for religious practice, but it’s religious practice as judged by the Chancellor (of the Ohio Department of Higher Education), and so the Chancellor is going to have to be in the business of deciding every syllabus, does it comply with a sincerely held religious belief?”
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Ohio House budget requires private colleges comply with diversity ban to be eligible for scholarship
“It is really about creating such burdens on private colleges, on nonprofit private colleges, that there would be no interest left in participating in the (Governor’s Merit Scholarship). Why does Ohio — a state that has a desperate workforce need, that has a population problem where people are not moving here and our young people are moving away — why in the world are we quibbling for a few $1,000 to students that can get to stay here and provide for our workforce that leads to jobs?”
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Advocates Shift Focus To Senate For Budget Requests
"They are being asked to choose between two disastrous choices: exclude themselves from a valuable scholarship program to the detriment of their students or accept unfunded, costly state mandates that risk their missions and continued existence."
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"If the state can bully nonprofit private corporations that do higher ed, they could do the same for any corporation in this state.”
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What challenges are Ohio colleges and universities encountering?
“Some institutions create new graduate programs that are in high demand, or they create undergraduate programs that gain national recognition. Or they start new undergraduate programs that are seen as being important and that attract more students and allow you to fight off the difficulties of demographic demand or the demographic decline.”
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From 2024
Cleveland State University to offer buyouts to faculty and staff
"In the state of Ohio, traditional students, those 18-24, have been declining since about the 2010s."
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Student concerns over future of their college
"The answer is they carry out their mission and they do so with a smaller or larger group of students, and I think that will be the great adjustment, so to speak, and people will be changing how their colleges operate and focus on what make them strongest."
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Radio and Podcast Appearances
The impact of declining student enrollment on college towns
“There are a lot of areas where there's an interest in students and growth, and if you're able to pivot and meet those demands as an institution, you're going to see the students retained to your university or coming there in the first place.”
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Small College America - Todd Jones, President and General Counsel, AICUO
“We push people to engage whether you think it's important or not.”
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Ohio universities are cutting programs - why?
“Institutions must meet students where they are in terms of interests.”
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Ohio universities keep cutting programs - what's the deal?
“Really what is transpiring is students are interested in different academic programs than they were in the past.”
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