Tuition increases alarm Guard (OH can't pay) [View All]

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http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0124guard.html


Saturday, January 24, 2004
COLUMBUS -- When they sign up for six years in the Ohio National Guard, soldiers and airmen are promised free tuition at any public college in Ohio, but skyrocketing tuition rates slammed the program and guardsmen are being told that they can't go this summer.
 
Tuition and fee increases at Ohio's four-year universities' main campuses averaged 11.4 percent for the current academic year, according to the Ohio Board of Regents. Tuition at those campuses now averages $6,822, which is 67 percent higher than the national average.

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"If we don't get any more money and if we have to continue to make decisions which impact folks' ability to participate, sure, it will obviously impact our ability to attract and retain soldiers. We just won't be able to do it. There is nothing else that we could offer that could come anywhere close to that. It is our single best recruiting and retention tool," said retired Brig. Gen. Stephen Koper, Ohio National Guard spokesman.
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But demand for scholarship money may increase when mobilized guardsmen return from Iraq. A new state law guarantees those soldiers and airmen tuition money, even if they leave the Guard. Koper said he expects many of those returning guardsmen to head to college.