OCAAUP’s 2017 Ohio Higher Education Report

In 2015, for the first time ever, OCAAUP produced an Ohio higher education report entitled “The Real Problems Deserve Real Solutions.” The purpose of the report was to shed light on the true cost-drivers in higher education.

Too often, faculty are scapegoated for institutional financial difficulties, and we wanted to point lawmakers and the public to the real problems we face and how we can solve them.

In keeping with that goal, especially in the face of short-sighted state and institutional policies, we produced another report this year called “Education First.” This report urges lawmakers and institutions to make the educational missions of our colleges and universities the focus of decision-making. 

Unfortunately, over the last several years, we have seen policies and programs such as performance-based funding and College Credit Plus which threaten educational quality. In addition, we continue to see institutions spend scarce resources on things peripheral to the academic mission, such as grandiose construction projects and athletics.

The report is being shared with state legislators and higher education reporters throughout the state. In doing so, we hope to bring attention to these issues and perspectives so that Ohio higher education can be put on the right path. 

This project was done completely in house by OCAAUP and is the product of months of research and writing. A special thanks to those who had a hand in it: John McNay, Sara Kilpatrick, Patty Goedl, Marty Kich, Steve Mockabee, and members of the OCAAUP Board.

Report Reveals Endowment Hedge Fund Investments

A new Hedge Clippers report shows that Ohio universities are making risky, expensive hedge fund investments.

Hedge Clippers is a group that works to expose public investments in hedge funds, which often charge higher fees and produce lower returns than index funds. Hedge fund billionaires frequently use their profits to fund anti-worker and anti-public education initiatives. Hedge Clippers brings attention to these issues in order to encourage public entities to divest from hedge funds.   

Their latest report on Ohio university endowments revealed these key findings:

• Twelve Ohio colleges and universities paid about $425 million dollars in fees to hedge fund managers since the Great Recession — enough to provide over 8,000 full in-state scholarships at Ohio public universities per year. 
• Eight Ohio public universities paid an estimated $238 million in hedge fund fees; the four large Ohio private universities included in our analysis paid nearly as much, with an estimated $187 million in fees to hedge fund managers since 2009. 
• These fees are in no way justified by returns. According to estimates, these twelve universities on average paid an unbelievable 65 cents in fees to hedge fund managers for every dollar of net return to the endowment fund from 2009-2015. 
• Hedge funds operate without transparency and without accountability. Hedge fund managers do not have to disclose to universities how much they are collecting in fees, and universities are not obliged to report to the public how much they have invested in hedge funds, which hedge funds they are invested in, and how these hedge funds have performed. 
• High fees rip off Ohio taxpayers and colleges while hurting Ohio communities. Hedge fund managers are using the fortunes they’ve grown through exorbitant fees to fund politicians and initiatives that put Ohio communities at risk.

Take a look to see if your institution made the report.