Lawmakers are throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks in their quest to educate more Hoosiers — whether through job training or traditional college.
But some of the discussions carry concerning consequences. Two major proposals this year deserve in-depth examination that a short session likely can’t provide.
First up is an effort by House Republicans to allow key higher education scholarships and grants be used for job training instead of toward full-time college credits.
The legislation impacts the 21st Century Scholars program, Freedom of Choice Grant and the the Higher Education Award. Collectively, the current budget includes about $330 million annually in state funding for that aid.
Each program has slightly different rules but generally there are GPA and credit completion requirements and all specify that students must be attending a two-year or four-year program on a full-time basis.
House Bill 1001 would allow intermediaries, employers, and labor organizations to receive money from the funds to train Hoosiers.
This would make employers who are frustrated with job openings and a lack of skilled workers happy. But the proposal doesn’t increase the money available in the accounts and essentially pits higher education and job training interests against each other.
The 21st Century fund is already facing a massive increase in a few years due to a new automatic enrollment feature. And the fiscal note on the bill doesn’t hazard a guess about the possible future costs of the move.
It’s a fiscal unknown that treats Hoosiers using the funds differently with different requirements.
I guess it’s a quick win to just point to an existing fund and say ‘that solves the job training problem,’ but I would wager we will be back next year “tweaking” the law after more information becomes available.
The second major proposal is Senate Bill 8, which will blur the line between two and four-year degree institutions that was set up 20 years ago.
At that time, under Gov. Mitch Daniels, a study by the Government Efficiency Commission recommended establishing Ivy Tech as a true community college system, and phasing out associate degree programs at other campuses.
That’s because it would be cheaper to earn an associate degree at Ivy Tech the first two years and then transfer to a traditional four-year school for bachelor’s and graduate degrees.
This so-called mission differentiation could be upended by Senate Bill 8, which calls for larger institutions like Indiana and Purdue to give associate degrees to students partway through seeking bachelor’s. And it also seeks to create three-year degree paths.
This would be a big change to the overall structure of higher education in Indiana.
That’s why Higher Education Commissioner Chris Lowery cautioned that the bill is a study — “We recognize this is a significant consideration. We won’t know the potential without purposefully examining it.”
While awarding associate degrees would help Indiana meet its higher education attainment goal, that doesn’t mean those associate degrees will get you a job. Many careers require a bachelor’s and nothing less.
I know it’s frustrating for lawmakers that educational attainment — whether job training or four-year degrees — has been such a hard nut to crack.
But we can’t let that frustration move bills that have wider implications without intense discussion.
Niki Kelly is editor-in-chief of indianacapitalchronicle.com, where this commentary first appeared. She has covered Indiana politics and the Indiana Statehouse since 1999 for publications including the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Send comments to [email protected].
