President Carter discusses university mission, affordability, new first-year class

President Carter discusses university mission, affordability, new first-year class

Forum focused on present and future of higher education

The Ohio State University President Walter "Ted" Carter Jr. addressed his vision for the university, the value of a college degree and a robust first-year class at a community forum this week, with the start of a new academic year just weeks away.

As he enters his seventh month as the 17th president of the university, Carter said he is passionate about helping Ohio State change the future of higher education.

"The confidence of the American public in higher education is eroding," he said. "So I came to Ohio State because I want to be in that conversation. I want to lead that change. I want to lead not only what it means for the state of Ohio and the entire Midwest, and the central Ohio region. What's it going to be for our nation?"

Carter joined NBC4 morning anchor Matt Barnes for an hour-long conversation hosted by the Columbus Metropolitan Club on Wednesday. The club holds weekly town hall-style forums with community leaders, experts and others for a discussion of newsworthy topics.

Among the topics covered was access and affordability in higher education. Barnes asked what the solution is to make a college degree more affordable for more students and their families.

"We are trending in a good direction," Carter said. "As you mentioned the price tag, if you were paying full fare, even as an in-state student, I acknowledge that's a lot, but I would also say that the return on that investment even if you were to pay full fare is still well worth it. To graduate from Ohio State with just an undergraduate degree in this era, right now, means that you're going to earn about $1.6 million more over your working lifetime than those that don't have an undergraduate degree."

Carter said the university continues to improve in financial aid benefits and the number of students graduating without debt. He noted the average student in Ohio receives about $10,000 in scholarship money and that 58% of Ohio State's bachelor's degree graduates leave the university with zero student loan debt.

The start of Ohio State's new academic year is Aug. 20, and Carter said he is optimistic about the potential of the new first-year students. He said the university received 80,000 applications, including 40,000 from in-state students - numbers that run counter to national trends of declining enrollment.

"Our prediction right now, and I don't have hard numbers, but when our student body shows up this fall, we think that we may be the largest incoming freshman class at our Columbus campus, combined with our regional campuses, that we've had since 1870," he said. "Our largest ever."

In the fall, Carter will go into greater detail about his strategic mission for the university at his investiture. But he offered some insight into his approach.

"I've been in the listen-and-learn mode for most of my first six or seven months. We're now getting into the action mode," he said. "I'm going to be treating [investiture] as a communication opportunity to talk about the next 10 years for The Ohio State University, and that vision is to go from good to the best."

Carter said the university would be strategic in its investments but would look to improve the great work at the university and make it better.

"At the end, if we do what I think we can do, along with some of the other big, land-grant [research] universities, we'll redefine what the future of higher ed in this country will mean - and that's the goal."

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