Ohio senators are considering requiring top students who get a governor's scholarship to stay in the state for at least three years after they graduate, or pay the money back.
Ohio high school students who graduate in the top 5% of their class are currently eligible for a state scholarship of $5,000 a year, for a total of four years if they go to an in-state public or private college or university.
Some senate amendments unveiled Tuesday give a glimpse into how that program might change in 2026.
The senate changes mean the top 2%of graduating seniors would qualify for the governor鈥檚 scholarship, not the top 5%. And the chair of the Senate Finance Committee said there鈥檚 a new caveat.
鈥淵ou have to remain in Ohio after graduation for three years,鈥� state Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said.
If a scholarship recipient left Ohio less than three years after graduation, they would have to repay the money. Those going to graduate school would be exempted from that requirement.
When asked about that change, Republican House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said it could be hard to enforce.
鈥淲e are not going to go across the state line into Detroit and try to drag somebody back. I suppose we could try to penalize them and all that,鈥� Huffman said.
Lawmakers are working on other possible changes to the program as part of the budget process. The scholarships can be used at public and private colleges in Ohio. The House added a requirement saying private colleges that accept those scholarships needed to follow Senate Bill 1, the state鈥檚 new anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion law. But the Senate removed that language. Huffman defended the language.
鈥淥ne of the things about accepting government money is accepting government requirements,鈥� Huffman said.
But Huffman said state leaders want the private colleges to accept these scholarships. So does Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) who told reporters that change was made after conversations with leaders of private colleges.
"We heard from many of the private universities and they brought up valid points regarding that many of them, by their mission, are, for example, religiously affiliated, And so they are going to have certain beliefs, certain ideals, certain things that they, through their mission, are going to try to impact upon their students. They were concerned that the compliance with SB 1 was going to interfere with that mission and raise some constitutional questions so we removed that from there," McColley said.
These proposed changes could be revised again. Hearings on the budget are expected in the coming days, and the full Senate is expected to vote on it soon.
Then it will be up to the conference committee to hammer out differences between the House and Senate versions. The budget must be signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine by the end of this month.
