Ohio’s College Comeback Compact Offers Students With Outstanding Debt A Second Chance To Finish Their Degrees

Eight colleges and universities in Northeast Ohio are offering students who dropped out of college and owe money to their former institution a way to resolve that debt and resume their college eduction all at the same time. Eligible students are being contacted this month about participating.

The program, touted as the first of its kind, is the Ohio College Comeback Compact, a multi-institution collaboration with financial and administrative support from both public agencies and private funders including Ithaka S+R, College Now Greater Cleveland, the Lumina Foundation, the Kresge Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. The program was pilot studied earlier this year.

The eight participating institutions are: Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College, Kent State University, Lakeland Community College, Lorain County Community College, Stark State College, The University of Akron, and Youngstown State University.

Here’s how it works.

Students who attended any of the eight Compact colleges or universities but did not finish their degree and still owe money to their former school are eligible for the Compact.

Interested students first meet with an adviser to learn about their options. Students who then enroll in any of the Compact colleges or universities and complete one semester will have up to $2,500 in any debt they owe their former college forgiven. Students can receive up to $5,000 in forgiveness by completing two semesters or earning a degree or certificate.

Once the complete amount of debt (up to $5,000) is canceled, the student’s former school releases their transcript. And, in a particularly helpful option in the program, participating institutions will forgive the money their former students owe them, even if they re-enroll in a different Compact college or university.

To receive the debt forgiveness, students must complete at least one semester at a participating college or university and in that semester, earn at least 6 credits towards an associates or bachelor’s degree, or a designated certificate program approved by the school.

Here are a few other requirements and provisions of the program:

• Only money that students owe directly to one of the eight participating colleges or universities (tuition and fees, library fines, parking tickets, etc.) is eligible for forgiveness. Federal or state government loans, loans from private lenders, or debt owed to other colleges and universities is not eligible for Compact forgiveness.
• If a student needs only one semester’s worth of credits to complete a degree or certificate, all $5,000 will be canceled in a single semester.
• When a Compact student enrolls in a different college or university than the one he or she formerly attended, the college enrolling the student will make an initial $500 payment to the institution the student previously attended, followed by a $250 payment for students who continue for a second semester.

Ithaka S+R’s research estimates that as may as 6.6 million individuals nationally have a “stranded credits” problem – college credits that students have earned but are not accessible because their former college is holding their transcript as collateral for an unpaid balance to the institution.

Transcript holds can prevent students from reenrolling, requesting their transcript for transfer to another college, or using it for employment purposes. According to Ithaka S+R, “stranded credits disproportionately affect students of color and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds.”

Estimates are that Ohio has about 220,000 former students facing the stranded credits problem, and that about 60,000 live in Northeast Ohio. It’s anticipated that as many as 15,000 students are eligible for the Compact.

“The Ohio Department of Higher Education is committed to working with the outstanding public colleges and universities in Northeast Ohio to make the Ohio College Comeback Compact a success,” said Randy Gardner, chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, in Ithaka S+R’s blog describing the program. “Ohio companies need educated workers, and that need is growing with the unprecedented number of multinational companies moving to our state. The goal of the Ohio College Comeback Compact is to encourage adults to return to college to finish degrees so they can advance their careers in our growing economy.”

Ohio’s College Comeback Compact is a great idea – a combination of generous policy, smart collaboration and strategic targets. More states should follow its lead.