Weekly Opinion/Editorial
OKLAHOMA’S PROMISEby Steve Fair
This week, Speaker of the House Chris Benge, (R-Tulsa) announced the approval of sixty-eight interim studies. An Interim study is the assignment of the subject matter of a bill to the appropriate committee for study during the period the state legislature is not in session.
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One of the studies approved by Benge was a request by State Representative Leslie Osborne, (R-Chickasha). Osborne wants to review ‘Oklahoma’s Promise,’ aka Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP) a program that helps pay for a college education for children from families that earn $50,000 or less (income averaged over a three-year period). Interested students have to apply for the program no later than in the 10th grade, take certain courses, maintain a 2.5 GPA and make no less than 22 on the ACT test to qualify. The students also have to keep their nose clean and stay out of trouble. Public, private and homeschooled students are eligible for the program. Homeschoolers were added to the program in 2007- eight years after the program began.
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Osborne’s study wants to find out how much Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, aka Oklahoma’s Promise, is costing taxpayers and if the plan is achieving the desired outcome. The study will also look at changes in the program since it was implemented and if the program has been successful. It’s been over ten years since the program began and OHLAP costs the state an estimated twenty million annually. Here are several suggested questions Osborne’s interim study should address.
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First, how many of the OHLAP college graduates are staying in Oklahoma after graduation? Retaining our best and brightest has been a challenge in our state. The primary reason we lose college grads is there are not enough high paying jobs in Oklahoma. You can’t blame Oklahoma graduates for there not being good jobs in the state, but we do need to know if Oklahoma taxpayers are educating other’s state’s workers by funding OHLAP.
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Second, can taxpayers/state government continue to afford to fund OHLAP? More and more students are applying for and qualifying for the free tuition program and with revenue shortages near record levels tough decisions are going to have to be made. No one wants to specifically cut OHLAP, but every taxpayer-funded program must be on the table for consideration in today’s tough economic times.
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Third, what percentage of college students who start under the OHLAP program actually complete college? Nationally fifty percent of students who start college don’t finish. Are OHLAP scholarship numbers similar? A study a couple of years ago showed OHLAP students did better than average. One consideration should be that an OHLAP scholarship recipient repays a portion of the taxpayer funds they got if they decide to drop out?
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Fourth, how successful are OHLAP program graduates? Where are they now and what are they doing? Tracking program grads will give us an idea of whether the program is working according to it’s initial objective which was to educate Oklahomans to move Oklahoma forward.
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OHLAP is not a classic entitlement program because it requires a student to show a great deal of personal responsibility and discipline. But it does cost taxpayers a lot of money and Osborne’s interim study should find out if taxpayers are getting what they paid for.
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A study a couple of years ago showed that OHLAP students had higher ACT scores, grade point averages, and college-going rates than the Oklahoma average. In fact, the OHLAP college enrollment rate of 80% exceeded the national rate for much more affluent students. The study also showed that OHLAP students had lower college remediation rates (27% v. 34%), and higher five-year degree completion rates than all first-time freshmen (47% v. 33%). It will be interesting to see if Osborne’s study reveals similar numbers.
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Oklahoma’s Promise aka OHLAP is helping many Oklahoma kids to get a college education that otherwise they might not get. That’s an honorable thing, but is providing higher education to its citizens a fundamental function of government? In a down economy, Oklahoma may be forced to renege on their ‘promise’ of free college.
*****
One of the studies approved by Benge was a request by State Representative Leslie Osborne, (R-Chickasha). Osborne wants to review ‘Oklahoma’s Promise,’ aka Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP) a program that helps pay for a college education for children from families that earn $50,000 or less (income averaged over a three-year period). Interested students have to apply for the program no later than in the 10th grade, take certain courses, maintain a 2.5 GPA and make no less than 22 on the ACT test to qualify. The students also have to keep their nose clean and stay out of trouble. Public, private and homeschooled students are eligible for the program. Homeschoolers were added to the program in 2007- eight years after the program began.
******
Osborne’s study wants to find out how much Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, aka Oklahoma’s Promise, is costing taxpayers and if the plan is achieving the desired outcome. The study will also look at changes in the program since it was implemented and if the program has been successful. It’s been over ten years since the program began and OHLAP costs the state an estimated twenty million annually. Here are several suggested questions Osborne’s interim study should address.
******
First, how many of the OHLAP college graduates are staying in Oklahoma after graduation? Retaining our best and brightest has been a challenge in our state. The primary reason we lose college grads is there are not enough high paying jobs in Oklahoma. You can’t blame Oklahoma graduates for there not being good jobs in the state, but we do need to know if Oklahoma taxpayers are educating other’s state’s workers by funding OHLAP.
*****
Second, can taxpayers/state government continue to afford to fund OHLAP? More and more students are applying for and qualifying for the free tuition program and with revenue shortages near record levels tough decisions are going to have to be made. No one wants to specifically cut OHLAP, but every taxpayer-funded program must be on the table for consideration in today’s tough economic times.
*****
Third, what percentage of college students who start under the OHLAP program actually complete college? Nationally fifty percent of students who start college don’t finish. Are OHLAP scholarship numbers similar? A study a couple of years ago showed OHLAP students did better than average. One consideration should be that an OHLAP scholarship recipient repays a portion of the taxpayer funds they got if they decide to drop out?
*****
Fourth, how successful are OHLAP program graduates? Where are they now and what are they doing? Tracking program grads will give us an idea of whether the program is working according to it’s initial objective which was to educate Oklahomans to move Oklahoma forward.
*****
OHLAP is not a classic entitlement program because it requires a student to show a great deal of personal responsibility and discipline. But it does cost taxpayers a lot of money and Osborne’s interim study should find out if taxpayers are getting what they paid for.
*****
A study a couple of years ago showed that OHLAP students had higher ACT scores, grade point averages, and college-going rates than the Oklahoma average. In fact, the OHLAP college enrollment rate of 80% exceeded the national rate for much more affluent students. The study also showed that OHLAP students had lower college remediation rates (27% v. 34%), and higher five-year degree completion rates than all first-time freshmen (47% v. 33%). It will be interesting to see if Osborne’s study reveals similar numbers.
*****
Oklahoma’s Promise aka OHLAP is helping many Oklahoma kids to get a college education that otherwise they might not get. That’s an honorable thing, but is providing higher education to its citizens a fundamental function of government? In a down economy, Oklahoma may be forced to renege on their ‘promise’ of free college.
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