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DeWine defends top-5% scholarship expansion and signals openness to reexamining college DEI restrictions
Summary
Gov. Mike DeWine said a scholarship for students in the top 5% of their high-school class boosted the rate those students stay in Ohio to attend college and that he will review but likely sign a bill restricting some campus DEI programs, while remaining open to reexamination if unintended consequences appear.
At the Columbus Metropolitan Club, Gov. Mike DeWine discussed higher-education initiatives in his budget and a separate bill addressing diversity, equity and inclusion programs on state campuses.
On scholarships, DeWine described an existing program that provides top-5% graduates $5,000 per year for up to four years at any Ohio public university main campus. He said the program raised retention of top students in-state from roughly 60–65% before the incentive to 76% in the first year and to about 87% more recently. "Any school in the state of Ohio, we give you $5,000 and we give it to you for 4 straight years... The first year we did this, it jumped up, to I think 76%. This year... we're at 87%."
DeWine said the state added an admission guarantee for top-5% students to main campuses of state universities, a change he described as another tool to keep Ohio's best students in state.
On the bill restricting many mandatory DEI programs and imposing classroom and tenure-related requirements, DeWine said he has "made it clear I'll probably sign the bill," but that he planned to review the bill's language and remain open to reexamination if the law produced unintended harms to campuses. "I'll go through this bill again and take a look at it," he said. He emphasized that universities should encourage diverse points of view and protect students' ability to express themselves.
Why it matters: Scholarship incentives and changes to campus policy could alter enrollment patterns, university admissions practices and campus programming. The governor's comments suggest support for both incentives to retain students and limits on certain campus DEI practices, but with a willingness to adjust policy after review.
Unresolved details: The governor did not provide legislative text for the DEI bill during the forum and did not specify metrics or enforcement details for the graduate-tracking proposals he described as a way to measure colleges' return on investment.
