Recent research suggests Ohioans are cautiously confident in the state’s public universities, believing institutions offer a good education, but they also remain skeptical about spending and political bias in the classroom.
The survey from Ohio State University’s Center for Human Resource Research shows 87% of Ohioans surveyed said they have at least some trust in the state’s 14 four-year universities. Most said they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of faith that campuses provide a good education.
That confidence fell, though, when researchers asked respondents about politics. Only 40% of respondents said they trust that instruction is free of political bias. Meanwhile, Republican politicians at the state and federal levels, including in Ohio, continue to scrutinize colleges and universities for what they say is a longstanding liberal bias.
The report says those concerns “represent the most acute pressure point for Ohio’s institutions.” But Steve Gavazzi, the center’s director, told Signal Ohio the report also includes things college leaders can do to change course.
“These findings offer a real pathway to renewed partnership between higher education and the citizens who, at the end of the day, are funding it,” he said.
Those citizens are also public universities’ biggest sources of current and prospective students. Most Americans who do enroll in some type of higher education do so at a two- or four-year college close to home. Public colleges also depend on state funding as a main income stream. Ohio’s financial support, though, has long lagged below the national average.
Gavazzi said he and his team surveyed 1,200 people across nine states in 2021 about their thoughts on higher education. They talked with a third of those respondents again in 2025. Eighty-five Ohio residents responded to both surveys, allowing researchers to track responses over time. Those findings were spun off into a separate state-specific paper.
Ohioans note concerns over university spending, transparency
Researchers posed an open-ended question in their survey: “If there was one thing that the public universities in your state could do that would make you feel more comfortable about how taxpayer money was being used to support higher education, what would it be?”
Most Ohio respondents said their biggest concerns are about transparency, especially around how institutions use tax dollars. The report noted these worries were extra pronounced in the second round of responses gathered in 2025.
Ohioans also offered suggestions to boost transparency.
“I would like spending to be entirely transparent,” one resident wrote. “I would like to be able to EASILY compare spending between departments and colleges.”
Researchers noted respondents trusted universities more when they believed campuses are fiscally responsible and deliver tangible benefits to students and communities.
Money was a common theme among survey responses. Several people said public higher education should be free – or, at least, more affordable. One person wanted universities to “give more back to local communities with the taxpayer money.” Another called for decreasing the salaries of administrators to “spread the wealth to the faculty and staff.”
How can Ohio universities respond?
Researchers outlined a few ways Ohio universities can respond to taxpayers’ concerns.
One example included creating “civics labs” where university students collaborate with local governments and other public entities to help solve problems together. It would help show universities are “committed to strengthening democratic life” for all residents, the report noted.
Other suggestions focused on resolving concerns over political bias. Perceptions could be curbed, in part, by university departments publishing “clear statements affirming neutrality” and having faculty members include “learning objectives, evidence standards, and norms for civil debate in their syllabi.” A new state law already requires universities to roll out related moves, including mandating professors to publicly post their class syllabi.
Gavazzi believes once one university implements these suggestions, others will follow.
He’d also like to see all states survey residents about trust in higher education to establish a baseline of data. Leaders could return to that data over time and use it to help guide decision-making.
