Dec 31

Written by: BMTT Staff
12/31/2008 5:25 PM 

Central State University, Ohio’s smallest publically-supported university, proposes to increase its student enrollment by 240 percent from 2007 to 2017. The Ohio Board of Regents and five other Ohio public colleges and universities are collaborators of the plan called Speed to Scale. Central State, which is one of 104 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States and one of two in Ohio, had 1800 students enrolled during the 2007 school year. It wants to increase that enrollment to 6000 by 2017. This was an extremely ambitious plan from the outset given that peer colleges in North Carolina only increased their enrollments over five years by 34 percent, and they totaled seven schools. However, one of the peer schools, Winston-Salem State University, increased its enrollment by 72 percent over five years from 2800 to 4800 students. If it did that for another five years, its total increase in enrollment would only be 144 percent. Central definitely has a major task on its hand, and the state has a task on its hand as well by trying to reduce its operating budget because of foreseeable revenue shortfalls.

Currently, Central State receives a state subsidy in addition to its instructional subsidy that it also receives from the state. The monies received from increased enrollment would help it to reduce its reliance on the additional subsidy, which would total $54 million over the ten year period. Its small enrollment results in higher costs per student while the state monies it receives are based the average costs per student at all Ohio publically-supported higher education institutions. The state’s average cost per student is presumed to be lower than Central’s average cost per student, and the resulting subsidy does not allow Central to fund its operating budget adequately.

The seven peer colleges on North Carolina, five of which are HBCUs, not only saw significant growth in enrollment but also saw significant growth in annual fundraising, research and sponsored program monies, capital improvements, and state money allocations.

Central realizes that it has a long road ahead but is confident in its strategic plan, faculty, administrators, and staff. It has also entered into agreements with Sinclair Community College, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Cuyahoga Community College, The Ohio State University, and the University of Cincinnati to help it focus on recruitment, retention, and program and faculty development. As Speed to Scale proceeds, the additional state subsidy will phase out beginning in FY2011 and end in FY2017 and hopefully be redistributed to other programs elsewhere. Good luck Central State! The Black Man’s Think Tank plans to help you in this initiative.
 

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