The following are two brief excerpts from Gongwer’s coverage of the Chancellor’s testimony and the legislators’ response to it. Gongwer is a subscription news service on Ohio government; so I cannot provide a link to the entire article.

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“Chancellor Defends Governor’s Plan To Cut College Costs

“A House subcommittee budget probed the higher education section of the governor’s budget Thursday with the zeal of a Rhodes Scholar, grilling Chancellor John Carey for nearly three hours.

“Members of the House Finance & Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee requested more details on Gov. John Kasich‘s proposals to cap tuition, increase state funding for colleges and universities, offer student debt relief, increase financial aid, expand college credit courses for high school students and more. . . .

“Several committee members questioned whether the proposed debt relief fund would really have the desired effect.

“Rep. Dan Ramos (D-Lorain) said he welcomed attention the administration is devoting to the student debt issue. “But it is such a small percentage of the $20 billion in debt students have,” he added, and he asked about people with a lot of debt that graduate in low-demand fields.

“Rep. Kevin Boyce (D-Columbus) said high demand jobs tend to pay higher salaries, which will make those graduates better able to pay off their debt. Conversely, people in lower demand fields earn less, he added, and asked whether the focus on high-demand job areas might perpetuate debt problems for others.

“Rep. Rick Perales (R-Beavercreek) noted that social workers are not considered a high demand position and tend to earn relatively little. ‘But without them the fabric of our state starts to disintegrate,’ he said.”