Graphs - Comparison With Publics

Independent college graduates continue to hold a majority in the U.S. Senate.

Ohio State’s major effort to “enhance the quality of its undergraduate student population”* — using millions of dollars in merit aid and recruitment expenditures to raise the ACT scores of entering freshmen — props up the sector-wide rate of on-time bachelor’s degree completions at Ohio’s public universities. Even so, Ohio State and the public sector lag behind the independent sector in this important success measure.

* “Ohio State 2008: Bridging the Excellence Divide,” by the OSU Enrollment Management Committee

Ohio independent colleges' commitment to adult students has grown substantially in the last two decades.

Regardless of academic qualifications, students are much more likely to graduate on time at an Ohio independent college.

Ohio's independent colleges and universities also do more than their share in meeting another state strategic higher education goal: educating adults seeking bachelor's degrees.

New federal data demonstrates a continuing, key advantage of attending an Ohio independent college: You don't need an extra year to graduate.

Ohio's independent colleges do more than their share of meeting one of the state's strategic higher education goals: attracting students from out of state.

Ohio's commitment to its neediest college students will continue to shrink in the next academic year.

Independent colleges, including AICUO member Xavier, outperform their public counterparts in more ways than just education.

The independent sector provides more than its share of recent graduates to a distinguished group of seminal public servants.

The recent upsurge in Ohio public campus enrollments is largely concentrated at two-year campuses - namely community and technical colleges and local university branch campuses.

New federal data on graduations continue to show the disproportionate production of independent colleges in producing degrees in areas critical to the future of Ohio: even in engineering, where just nine of AICUO’s 52 members offer degrees.

Since the 1862 Morrill Act, which enabled the first state-funded land-grant colleges and universities, the proportion of presidents who attended independent colleges (18 of 28) is even higher than the share of all presidents (24 of 43, counting Cleveland only once).

In the four-year sector, Ohio's independent colleges lead the way to success for nontraditional students.

As the start of the new school year approaches, campuses across the state, both public and private, are scrambling to help students faced with massive — and in one sector, total — cuts in state need-based financial aid.

Large majorities of entering freshmen at both public and independent colleges are from Ohio, but independent-college students have a better chance of learning with someone from another part of the country.

Ohio independent colleges and universities award proportionately more of the state's bachelor's degrees, and especially last year to African American students.

Only one area in Ohio's higher education budget saw an increase, the public campuses' State Share of Instruction subsidy, while many other important programs were cut or eliminated outright.

In all "STEM" fields, Ohio's independent colleges are the more efficient sector in graduating their majors.

Although Ohio's independent colleges award just over a third of the bachelor's degrees awarded in the state, half of the delegation in the 103rd to 111th sessions of the U.S. Congress received their degrees at an independent college.

At an Ohio public university, you're more likely to not complete your degree at all than to complete it on time - not so at an Ohio independent college!

All students, even those academically less prepared for college, are more likely to graduate on time at an Ohio independent college.

This lower student-to-degree ratio once again demonstrates the greater effectiveness of Ohio's independent colleges in educating all the state's citizens.

New federal statistics show that an entering freshman is more likely to complete a bachelor's degree in four years at an Ohio independent college than in five years at an Ohio public university.

A recent, sudden decrease in freshman-to-sophomore retention at four-year campuses is accented by a precipitous fall in 2008 in the public sector.

Of the 16 remaining teams in the tournament, five are from independent colleges. Ohio's Xavier joins Villanova, Duke, Gonzaga, and Syracuse in the third round this weekend.

Look beyond federal graduation statistics to see the entire role of Ohio’s independent colleges in teacher education. To be licensed for high school, students must major in the fields in which they intend to teach, and independents’ disproportionate share of graduates in science, mathematics, and foreign languages lead to a similar share of graduates seeking to become Ohio teachers.

Changes in the state's financial aid programs proposed in the Executive Budget would drastically reduce the share that students at Ohio's independent colleges receive.

A new national study offers further evidence supporting the greater efficiency of independent higher education.

In the last two years, the enrollment growth the state needs to meet the governor's strategic higher education goals has been concentrated, by policy and by the numbers, in the state's public campuses.

Nearly all the state support for independent higher education is in the form of student financial aid. The declining share largely results from sizeable subsidy increases to support a tuition freeze at public campuses and a concomitant 1/3 cut in the Student Choice Grant program for undergraduates at independent colleges.

Side-by-side or one atop the other, there's nearly no difference in the income profile of full-time undergraduates at Ohio's four-year public or independent campuses. If anything, the typical student at a private nonprofit college is less wealthy.

Compared to independent colleges, Ohio's public universities educate more than twice as many students from the state's wealthiest families.

While a higher share of students borrow to attend private colleges, the percentage difference between public and private sectors is not as great as you might believe.

The newer need-based OCOG aid program offers a smaller share of money overall to students at independent campuses - although with a larger average grant - than the old OIG for two reasons. First, the difference in awards in OCOG to students at public and private colleges reflects less of the difference of the tuition charged by each sector than in OIG. Next, part-time students who constitute a larger share of enrollment at two-year and for-profit colleges are eligible for an OCOG award but not for an OIG.

Ohio's independent colleges share a history in football - Oberlin was the last Ohio college, public or private, to defeat Ohio State (7-6 in 1921) - and a record of accomplishment in the championship tournaments. More details can be found here.

State Expenditures Per Degree Awarded At Ohio Public and Independent Colleges (2- and 4-year) Fiscal Year 2007 (Academic Year 2006-07)

Source: Expenditures, Ohio Board of Regents; Degrees, National Center for Education Statistics

When measured by results - associate, bachelor's, and graduate degrees - the state's higher education dollars go much further at independent colleges.

Independent College Shares of Student Headcount and State of Ohio Higher Education Funds (not including capital funds)

Academic Year 2006-2007/Fiscal Year 2007

If you factor in money from the state's capital budget that supports infrastructure at public campuses, the share the state offers to independent colleges toward meeting Ohio's higher education goals shrinks even more.

New data from the National Center for Education Statistics continues to show how Ohio's independent colleges have assumed a large share of the state's enrollment growth over the last two decades - and all of the growth in the four-year sector.

In gaining larger numbers of external research dollars, as well as bachelor¹s degrees, the state¹s dollars go farther when supporting activities at Ohio¹s independent colleges.

Ohio's independent colleges educate more than their share of one of the state's targeted groups: undergraduates age 30 and over.

Ohio's new strategic plan for higher education emphasizes attracting out-of-state students, with the hope that many will settle here after graduation. Ohio's independent colleges lead in this effort.

Independent colleges enroll about a third of the state's undergraduates at four-year colleges and universities - but almost half of those who finish on time.

Note how the stewards of the freedoms the founders demanded on July 4, 1776, are all graduates of independent colleges and independent law schools.

Regardless of how well you did on your ACT - even if your school doesn't require the ACT - you're much more likely to graduate on time at an AICUO member institution.

New data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows the continued high perfromance of Ohio's independent colleges and universities in graduating their freshman on time.

Ohio independent colleges shine in graduating scientists, engineers, artists, linguists...

Even engineers, as only a handful of independent colleges can afford to offer engineering programs, and one of every five of Ohio's bachelor's degrees in that area come from our members.

Persistence and four-year graduation rates Ohio independent and public four-year institutions

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Four out of every five new freshmen return the next year to the campus where they started at both Ohio public and Ohio independent four-year colleges and universities. But after four years, the share who have completed their bachelor's degrees is nearly 20 percent higher.

At Ohio's independent colleges, new undergraduates have a higher share of transfers and part-time students - nontraditional students - than those at the state's public four-year main campuses.

Ohio's independent colleges have long been receptive to students who begin their studies at a community college. Fully half of those earn bachelor's degrees at an Ohio college who transferred credit from a two-year campus earned their four-year degree at an AICUO member campus: compared to 1/3 of bachelor's degrees overall.

Ohio Undergraduates by Age Cohort

Ohio's independent colleges demonstrate their commitment to adult students each year, enrolling a disproportionate share of those over the age of 25.

Graduation Rates of Ohio College Students
Ohio Independent and Public 4-Year Institutions

WHY TAKE AN EXTRA YEAR TO GRADUATE?
More than half of the entering students at Ohio's independent colleges earn their bachelor's degrees in four years or less — while at the public campuses it takes an extra year until half their entering freshmen have finished.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

Enrollment Comparison: Public vs. Independent Institutions

A Major Share Of Ohio's Enrollment Growth.
Since the late 1980s, Ohio's independent colleges have contributed 1/3 of the state's increase in higher education enrollments, even though they enroll only 1/5 of the total students.

Source: Ohio Board of Regents Student Inventory Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Independent College Share of Ohio 4-year Undergraduates v. Ohio Bachelor's Degrees, 2005-06

Ohio's independent colleges and universities are more productive in assisting minority populations to reach their educational goals.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

4- and 5-Year Baccalaureate Graduation Rates At Ohio Higher Education Institutions

Independent College Share of 4-Year Undergraduates By Age, Fall 2005

Ohio's private nonprofit colleges and universities do more than their share of educating the state's adult learners.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Family Income Distribution at Ohio 4-Year Colleges and Universities AY 2003-04

Economically speaking, the undergraduate student bodies of Ohio's public and independent colleges and universities are nearly identical.

Source: Family income survey of ACT and SAT takers enrolled in Ohio institutions, via Ohio Board of Regents