tax credits / flickr
A change to how Ohio’s public universities and community colleges earn their share of state funding is already causing some schools to shift their policies.Governor John Kasich was blunt when outlining the changes to higher education funding formulas at this year’s State of the State address.“Colleges and universities will not get any of these state dollars that has gone to them traditionally based on enrollment,” Kasich said in February. “You know what they’ve agreed to do, they will only get paid if students complete courses or students get degrees.”2014 marked the first full year where policies changed for the state's four-year universities, while adjustments to the formula used by the state's 23 community colleges passed over the summer.Now, administrators may pay even closer attention to the students they both attract and retain.That’s already happening at places like Northeast Ohio’s Kent State.Over the summer, school officials started a campaign to reach out to former students who left before nearly finishing a four-year degree.The goal was to lure undergraduates back to earn their remaining credits--which associate provost for academic affairs Melody Tankersley says probably otherwise wouldn’t have happened.“I don’t know that we had considered this before, and I don’t know when we would have got to the place of considering it without that change,” she said. “So that change has made us think of things a little bit differently.”Butin a recent survey, public college faculty members pointed out performance based funding may have some drawbacks, including creating more selective admission policies and an increased workload for administrators.