The Akron Legal News

Fund would help students finish college

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: December 19, 2014

Before the close of the current legislative session, Rep. Dan Ramos, D-Lorain, would like to see a bill that would help pay for college students to complete their degrees signed into law.

House Bill 209, also known as the Finish Fund, would establish the Finish Reserve Fund to provide grants to students who are nearing completion of their undergraduate studies and display financial need or hardship.

“Put simply, the Finish Fund would help those who are doing everything right academically, where life sometimes gets in the way, financially,” said Ramos in recent sponsor testimony for the bill before the House Finance and Appropriations Committee.

In order to qualify for a Finish Fund grant, students would have to be Ohio residents enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program at a state institution of higher education or a private nonprofit college or university.

Eligible students must have maintained at least a 2.5 cumulative grade-point average, have a declared academic major or program and be considered a junior or senior.

In addition, funding would be prioritized for students who have taken out available federal student loans and they must have “exhausted all other funding streams available to college students,” Ramos said.

“A number of universities have some reserve funds available for students who have been enrolled, made satisfactory progress and who need additional financial assistance to complete their degrees,” the lawmaker said.

“However, these programs are often not fully able to meet the demand. Two examples that came to surface when researching this amendment were Ohio University and, out-of-state, the University of Connecticut.”

Ramos said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned a national study that assessed the various reasons that students drop out of college.

The findings were that among students in four-year schools, 45 percent work more than 20 hours per week.

“Just 25 percent of students attend the sort of residential college we often envision,” he said, adding that six out of 10 who left college without graduating were attending without the financial assistance of parents.

“Seven in 10 who leave school report that they did not have scholarships or financial aid, compared with four in 10 who do graduate. And three in 10 who leave college before completion leave school with debt — adding a further burden on our younger generation and our state’s economic growth.”

Ramos said while there are many other reasons for students dropping out of college, the report concluded that the majority of students who drop out are often doing so because of the financial pressures of attending college.

If HB 209 is enacted, the Finish Fund would be administered by the Ohio Board of Regents. The board would distribute a grant directly to a student’s institution.

Under the bill’s aims, a series of five tiers would be created to prioritize the receipt of Finish Fund.

“Students closest to graduation who have tried to take out federal loans as first in line and those furthest from completion with no federal loans as last in line,” Ramos said.

“After funding has been awarded to juniors and seniors in baccalaureate programs, funding would be made available to those in their second year in a community college.”

Ramos said an accountability system is built into the proposed legislation that tracks how receipt of the aide coincides with academic progress moving forward.

“In so doing, we will get an actual picture this biennium (of) how many students the program is reaching, how many continue their education, how many complete their programs and how many still drop out,” he said.

“This will better allow the General Assembly to explore, in the next budget, whether to alter or expand the program.”

Assuming that an average award is $2,000, Ramos said the program could impact up to 5,000 students each year.

“At those projected levels, this fund could be the difference in completing an additional 40,000 college students by 2020. More conservative estimates still mean tens of thousands of additional college graduates,” he said.

“All of this can be accomplished for the very modest investment of $10 million per year.”

In asking the committee to move the bill forward, Ramos said no student who is doing their part should have to give up earning their degree because life got in the way.

“Passage of the Finish Fund would take a great step to helping these students, and toward helping our state get more college graduates and speed our economic recovery,” he said.

The bill has not been scheduled for additional hearings.

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