Acton, Ramaswamy take aim over opponents’ university position, spending

Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton has criticized her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, for suggesting consolidating Ohio’s public colleges and universities, while Ramaswamy is calling out her plans, saying it could result in $21 billion in spending.

After going viral once again for proposing to consolidate Ohio’s public colleges and universities on March 16, Ramaswamy wrote an op-ed that was published by The Columbus Dispatch on March 27, in which he described in detail his higher education plan while also accusing Acton of offering “little more than cheap criticisms of my ideas while offering no solutions of her own.”

Ramaswamy wrote that it doesn’t make sense for Ohioans to pay for the “unsustainable” tuition costs at public colleges and universities, especially given that fewer and fewer Ohio high school graduates are choosing to attend college.

“Graduate salaries aren’t keeping pace with climbing tuition and student debt. Just 47.6% of Ohio graduates in the class of 2021 enrolled in higher education within two years of graduation, down from 59% in 2015, while the total cost of attending Ohio’s public universities has increased by nearly 50% over the past 15 years,” he wrote, citing the Ohio Department of Higher Education, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and the National Center for Education Statistics. “Families across the state are feeling the strain.”

Ramaswamy then called the Ohio higher public education system “one of the most fragmented” systems in the United States because it spends taxpayers’ money “across too many bloated bureaucracies.” In contrast, he used Florida and Georgia as examples of the states that have “benefited from commonsense reforms.”

“As governor, I intend to lead a pragmatic reform that guides certain state-funded universities that suffer from under-enrollment to instead become ‘centers of excellence’ – national leaders in a specific field – with the goal of offering a higher-quality education to students at a lower cost,” he wrote. “Specialization creates distinction, and distinction attracts students. This will push our state-funded universities to work together, instead of in separate siloes.”

Ramaswamy’s claims about the “fragment” education system appear to be true. According to Stats America, Ohio had approximately 11.9 million people in 2025, compared with Florida’s 23.46 million and Georgia’s 11.4 million. Since there are 14 public higher education institutions in Ohio, 12 in Florida, and 26 in Georgia, the per capita number of public universities per 1 million residents is approximately 1.18 in Ohio, approximately 0.51 in Florida, and approximately 2.28 in Georgia.

“Billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy — with no real idea what is happening around kitchen tables in Ohio — is doubling down on his plan to close our world-class Ohio universities,” Acton wrote on X in response to the op-ed. “Every plan of his hurts hardworking Ohioans, while life gets better for him and his friends at the top.”

Acton did not respond to a request from Ohio.News.

Acton’s Vice President pick, David Pepper, also criticized Ramaswamy, writing on X that the reason why he wrote his “word salad” op-ed was to “erase his horrible policy ideas.”

On the other hand, the President of the Ohio Senate and Ramaswamy’s Vice President pick, Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, agreed with his ticket mate by writing on X that Acton can only criticize, while not providing any solutions.

Gov. Mike DeWine opposed Ramaswamy’s proposition, saying that he is “not in favor of consolidating” Ohio’s public colleges and universities, according to The Statehouse News Bureau.

“It’s important to have them all over the state so frankly, people who can’t afford to live at the college and pay room and board, they can commute. We still have commuters,” he said.

In response to the backlash over his recently shared position,

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy issued a release alleging that Acton, who recently proposed more state spending, would take $21 billion from Ohio taxpayers if she wins the race. According to the press release, Acton wants to spend $15.1 billion on a medical debt bailout, $5.6 billion on childcare subsidies, $597 million on restoring the local government fund, and billions more on K-12 education.