Wining and dining potential candidates can be expensive but over half a million dollars? Really?

Kaitlyn Schallhorn of Campus Reform reports.

Ohio State spent $600K on private jets, swank lunches in presidential search

Ohio State’s search for a new president came with a price tag — and a hefty one at that.

The Big Ten school shelled out nearly $610,000 in its quest to find a new president — a man who may not have even been OSU’s first choice — sparing no expense on a private search firm, private business jet rental company, and high-end restaurants in the Columbus area.

“Unrestricted funds from private sources were used to underwrite search expenditures; no tuition or tax dollars were used,” OSU spokesperson Gary Lewis told Campus Reform. “At all times, the University acted in accordance with state law, and the documents released provide a full accounting of the time and resources spent on the process that culminated with the selection of Dr. [Michael] Drake as the 15th president of The Ohio State University.”

Unrestricted funds are given by donors to the university.

A public records request published by the school’s student newspaper, The Lantern, revealed that the school contracted R. William Funk & Associates on Sept. 17, paying them $200,000 and any additional out-of-pocket expenses which included $20,000 to hire several additional companies to perform background searches on the candidates.

Besides the firm, OSU paid $186,714 to a private business jet company for 10 flights between Columbus and airports in Atlanta, Ga.; Lincoln, Neb.; and Santa Ana, Calif. An additional $8,440 was spent at Cameron Mitchell Restaurants which included a $3,039 lunch for the search committee.