Senate Bill 1 is filled with dozens of new rules for Ohio’s public colleges and universities – and following just one of them is costing some institutions thousands of dollars.
Beginning this fall semester, schools must publicly share details about undergraduate classes to comply with the state law that overhauls how higher education works in Ohio.
Publishing information about the thousands of courses offered across the state is a big undertaking. Many schools are outsourcing the work to private software companies charging five-figure price tags.
Costs ranged from $27,500 at Kent State to $55,000 at Ohio State, according to public records from three of the state’s largest universities requested by Signal Statewide. Terms of the deals vary campus-by-campus.
Campuses must cover these costs independently. The law didn’t provide additional money for this specific provision, though public campuses do receive general state support.
Republican state lawmakers said Senate Bill 1 – which also banned most diversity, equity and inclusion (or DEI) work and ended faculty’s right to strike – ensures colleges don’t “indoctrinate students with woke ideology and censor opposing views.”
This syllabus requirement is one way the legislation looks to increase transparency around what’s being taught in college classrooms.
Students get more details about classes, and members of the public can see what taxpayer-supported colleges are teaching. Many faculty members, though, believe it’s another way lawmakers are trying to stifle their academic freedom.
Details of Kent State, Ohio State’s syllabi deals
Last fall, the lobbying group representing Ohio’s 14 universities negotiated its first group deal with Simple Higher Ed. The agreement notes the Inter-University Council gets a small cut from the company – 0.5% of the total invoice amounts sent out in a calendar year – for administrative fees.
The small, Florida-based software company sells a handful of programs, though its syllabus program – dubbed “Simple Syllabus” – appears to be its biggest offering.
Its website touts customizable templates, the ability to easily integrate with a university’s existing software programs and partnerships with more than 600 campuses nationwide.
Here in Ohio, Kent State University’s contract with the company served as the basis for the group’s deal.
The university is paying $27,500 in its initial one-year contract, according to the public records requested by Signal Statewide. That’s based on an enrollment estimate of about 29,300 students, breaking down to a cost of 94 cents per student. The university’s implementation fee was waived by the company.
That’s not the case at Ohio State University.
Public records show the state’s flagship institution will pay $10,000 in setup costs and $45,000 in service fees to Simple Higher Ed in its initial year. That rate is based on an enrollment estimate of 65,000 students, equating to a cost of about 69 cents per student – far lower than the rate Kent State pays.
Most public universities partner with same syllabi company
Seven additional public universities appear to also be partnering with Simple Higher Ed, according to Signal Statewide’s scan of institutions’ websites.
Others chose different routes. Northeast Ohio Medical University is unaffected by the rule since it doesn’t offer undergraduate classes.
Central State University lists a searchable table of documents for its 327 classes directly on its website. Youngstown State University is using a platform called CourseLeaf SYL. Both Ohio University and Bowling Green State University went with the Concourse Syllabus program.
Public records show Bowling Green is paying $25,000 in subscription costs and $5,000 in startup fees for a total first-year cost of $30,000. Each of the last three years of the five-year contract comes with a price increase of up to 5%, meaning the university is set to pay nearly $28,000 in its last year. The contract does not explicitly note any enrollment numbers.
Every university must comply with the same requirements under state law, whether or not leaders hire an outside vendor. An overview of topics and required readings must be published for each course. Instructors’ names and professional backgrounds need to be shared, too.
Senate Bill 1 gives community colleges more flexibility. Five of the state’s community colleges decided to publish the same slate of information as universities, Ohio Department of Higher Education officials told Signal Statewide.
The other 17 two-year publics took another option, choosing to only publish the class-related details without any educator information.
State law also allowed both community colleges and universities to put instructors in charge of posting their own syllabi online. ODHE officials said none went with that choice.
Critics say Senate Bill 1 brings unfunded mandates
These contracts cover software prices. But there’s an additional cost of faculty and staff members’ time, too. Ohio University officials recently said rolling out its database came after “months of planning, a faculty-led pilot, and campus-wide collaboration.”
Critics of Senate Bill 1 long blasted the legislation for putting what they call unfunded mandates on the state’s colleges and universities.
But State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, told cleveland.com he’s skeptical of those criticisms against the legislation he wrote. He said institutions would ultimately save money under the law, including by ending diversity, equity and inclusion work.
“We didn’t fund [DEI programs] in the first place,” Cirino said in July 2025. “They funded them themselves, out of their operating appropriations. So now they’re removing them. They’re going to save money by removing these programs.”
