New initiatives to increase collaboration between UT, Owens and TPS.

A few thoughts from a person plugged into the system:

1. In this age of declining state support for higher education, anything that UT, Owens, and TPS collaboratively do to recruit and retain local students makes all of these institutions stronger, less reliant on the vagaries of state funding, and more helpful for the community at large. I also think that greater links (up to and including a merger) between UT and Owens would greatly strengthen the bargaining power and vitality of both institutions in the rigged game (that is, rigged in favor of everything Columbus-oriented) that is the Ohio Board of Regents.

2. There is no connection between higher education and happiness, but there definitely is a connection between college degrees and financial success. Happiness can be achieved in the most meager of jobs, while income raises dramatically with the number of degress a person receives. According to the Census Bureau, these are the average lifetime earnings for people in different educational categories:

1. High school graduates: $1.2 million
2. Bachelor's degree: $2.1 million
3. Master's degree, $2.5 million
4. Doctoral degrees: $3.4 million
5. Professional degrees: $4.4 million

Mike, I am formerly linked to this and co-author of works linking the two institutions and the creation of downtown campus locations, etc. But that was over a dozen years ago. I found UT to be particularly territorial. Also, it seemed that UT viewed their striving for excellence and two-year education to be mutually exclusive; mission drift at best.

Yes, Offshore, UT is rather territorial, and this tendency toward turf wars manifested itself during the UT-MUO merger. However, these are historically difficult times, and institutions that sit around and wait for better days might find themselves in sudden dire straits.

While the purist in me wishes for a return to the days when academia merited healthy and consistent state funding, the realist in me knows that I may never live to see those days again in the U.S. We are well into an era of cutthroat consolidation, downsizing, and the complete re-invention of the American higher education system. I may not like it, but I can either whine about the destruction of American acedmia or try to prod my little corner of the country into looking out for its own survival.

If the Board of Regents had its way, UT, BGSU, and the other state universities would become downsized satellite operations of OSU. By working with other regional colleges and universities - again to the point of merger - UT stands a better chance of being able to fight the state's efforts to shrink it through funding cuts and mandated curriculum/program changes.

Whatever happened to the 2 year degrees UT used to offer at the Scott Park campus?

UT no longer promotes COMTCEH, their former 2-year college, but they offer quite a few online associate degrees as well as associate programs in business and health and human services, among others.

Of course, UT has higher tuition costs, so more people pursue associate degrees at less expensive community colleges. Still, there were quite a few associate graduates at the Fall commencement ceremonies I attended to watch my wife get another MA degree.

Mike, I believe you are correct about the Board of Regents and the reality of consolidation for our regional universities but I'm not so sure about community colleges.

What Ohio lacks is a real structure/system for community colleges like other states (e.g. Florida, California, Arizona) but, studies have shown that governors and staff members often attribute the economic and workforce development in their states to two-year schools.

I am currently on the dissertation committee for a researcher at the U of Alabama who is re-examining this. It will be interesting to see how Strickland stands on the topic and how it may or, most likely, may not influence the BOR. Also, remember one of our region's advocates on the BOR is in prison!

I wonder if he can still cast a vote...