The BHAG Dream is Over @ OSU
Last year, I wrote a blog about Dr. Johnson, the then-new President of Ohio State University, who announced an audacious goal to fully fund undergraduate costs in the next decade at OSU. In the terms of Jim Collins, author of the iconic business book, Good to Great, this is a BHAG- a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. As much as I was cheering her on, I could not make the math work. The average debt of a college graduate is right at $30k, or $7,500 a year. Unless the debt was to be “paid” by reviving the old “work-study” programs, any direct payment to an account would wipe out the 1 Billion in as little as 6 years. Check out this sparse news article from the Chronicle of Higher Education
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In November 2021, President Kristina M. Johnson of Ohio State University announced a groundbreaking plan to help all undergraduates complete a degree at the university without taking out any student loans.
On Monday evening, Johnson, who has been president since July 2020, made another big announcement, confirming news accounts that she would be leaving her post just a year after her official investiture. “I have made the difficult decision to step down as president following commencement at the end of the academic year,” Johnson said in a news release.
In her announcement, Johnson offered no reason for stepping down less than three years into her five-year contract. In an interview on Tuesday with The Chronicle, she reiterated that it was “a difficult decision” and she remains committed to her plans and the university through the end of the academic year.
“I can’t stress enough how proud I am of faculty, students, and all of Buckeye Nation,” Johnson said.
Johnson is the just the latest of several high-profile presidents to step down from leadership at major research universities over the past two years, as the pandemic and increased financial and political pressures took their toll on institutions. But her resignation is notable because of the extremely short tenure and because of the scope and number of programs that will remain in their infancy when she leaves.
The plan to eliminate undergraduate student loans at the university, with increased financial aid and student work opportunities, was being piloted this year for just 125 students. Johnson had planned for the program to take a decade to be fully operational, and it required raising nearly a billion dollars and arranging for thousands of jobs and paid internships. During her interview, Johnson noted that the university had already raised more than $120 million for the plan and attracted some 5,000 new donors.
Johnson had also planned to hire an additional 350 faculty members over the next decade and double the university’s research expenditures, which last year surpassed $1.2 billion. Research expenditures have increased by double-digit percentages during her tenure, Johnson said.
But what happens to those plans and many others is now in doubt — new presidents like to make their own plans and pursue their own legacies.
“Ideally she will be here through the end of the spring semester, and we will forge ahead,” said Caroline Clark, a professor in the department of teaching and learning at Ohio State and a member of the University Senate.
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There are inferences about political disagreements with the Legislature, but they are long on innuendo and short on specifics. Who knows?
All I know is that her replacement will very likely quietly scuttle those plans. They were shaky financially, dependent on monstrous fundraising, and were scheduled to develop over a decade. Now, if somehow she could find 25,000 part-time jobs at the big U, for say $750 a month, at roughly 10 hours a week, no benefits, for 9 months, what you have then is a giant work-study program. But THAT massive plan would only take care of one-half of their close to 50k undergraduate students. What do you do for the next almost 25k students?
What is really sad is that this champion, this advocate, will not see it through all the storms that were sure to impact the plan. I don’t know her reasons, but her cause will suffer a mortal wound without her drive and determination to see it through.
That’s the worst news of all.
We are back to trying to keep our students out of debt on our own, just like we’ve been for decades, and into the foreseeable future. But, you don’t need to go it alone. You can check them out in my book, ENOUGH! The College Cost Crisis , for the price of two designer coffees from your favorite barista. What a gift for the right student and their parents!
Until Next Time,
All My Best,
Bonnie Burkett
