Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
A proposal in the Statehouse could make earning a college degree from an Ohio college more affordable for active duty members of the U.S. military and their families.
Members of the Ohio House unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to allow service members, their spouses and dependents to pay in-state tuition at all public institutions, including the state’s 23 community colleges and 14 universities.
Currently members of the military are required to live in Ohio in order to qualify for in-state tuition prices, according to State Rep. Rick Perales, R-Beavercreek. Perales’s sponsored bill would do away with the residency requirement.
“Without a place to permanently call home, it is hard to justify limiting a dependent’s college choices to the state in which his or her parent or guardian was last stationed,” Perales said. “House Bill 16 is a small step Ohio can take to show our military members and their families that we support them and that we appreciate their service to our country.”
Perales’s proposal is one that would be welcome by the military community, said Amanda Watkins, associate director of Wright State University’s Veteran and Military Center. Though Watkins said Ohio is already known as military friendly, she said expanding the in-state tuition offer will make the state an even more attractive place for service members to seek a degree.
“It expands their higher-ed opportunities and it allows them to find a college that fits their needs,” Watkins said. “It definitely will help.”
