Ohio State University hopes to be the subject of the first-ever performance audit of a college or university by the state auditor’s office.
Financial audits of higher education institutions happen all the time; those are when the state auditor checks the books of public institutions to make sure everything jives. Performance audits look for inefficiencies and ways to improve.
After the privatization of the school's parking operations, some OSU departments have worried about being sold off. School spokesman Rob Messinger says privatization isn’t their goal, per se.
“The goal here is find smarter ways, especially focused on the administrative side of running the university," says Messinger. "How can we find savings on the administrative side, and devote them to what really benefits students, faculty and staff.”
Ohio’s auditor currently does four performance audits every two years, and a bill now before state lawmakers would guarantee one of those four audits studies a college or university.
