Owens Community College and the Toledo Public Schools (TPS)  have teamed to enable high school graduates to attend Owens for free, depending on their financial needs.

The Success Program covers any difference between what students receive in state and federal financial aid and the cost of Owens tuition.

“Every student should have the opportunity to pursue a college education,” said Owens Community College President Christa Adams. “The Success Program was established to eliminate financial barriers and provider greater access to higher education.”

The Success Program, funded by the Owens Foundation, began as a pilot program with the 2008 graduating classes at Toledo Woodward High School and Findlay High School. For the fall 2008 semester, 30 Findlay graduates and 57 Woodward graduates enrolled at Owens through the program. Those 57 Woodward graduates represent 21 percent of all TPS high school graduates who entered Owens.

Ann Savage is president and CEO of the Owens Foundation and executive director of Fund Development for Owens.

“We certainly hope to substantially increase enrollment from Toledo Public Schools the same way we saw increased enrollment from Woodward High School,” Savage said.

Shortly after joining the Owens Foundation two years ago, Savage said Adams “expressed the importance of making it possible for students to go to college.” To pursue that goal, the foundation reviewed similar programs, including those in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Dallas.

“We looked at the needs of our students, looked at the needs of the area and looked at other programs. Then, we crafted our own program for what would work best for the area,” Savage said.

TPS Superintendent John Foley said expansion of the Success Program is “something we had hoped for from the beginning. We hoped it would expand one school at a time, so we’re pretty excited that the program is expanding to all of the TPS high schools at once.”

Foley said while the program opens the door to college for current seniors, it also should get the younger students to start thinking about college and planning their course work so they are prepared academically.

“Their families now know that it is possible and there can be an expectation for college when there might not have been otherwise due to finances. The Success Program can motivate them to start looking in that direction,” he said.

To participate in the Success Program, Toledo Public Schools’ students must graduate from high school, be enrolled in 12 or more credit hours each semester at Owens and complete a free application for federal student aid to determine financial aid and receive some federal/state grant funding. Recipients must enroll at Owens during the first fall semester or spring semester following graduation, and will have three years to complete their associate degree.

While nothing has been finalized, Savage said the Owens Foundation is seeking to expand the Success Program beyond Findlay and Toledo Public Schools. It’s looking at similar partnerships with other Northwest Ohio schools in Hancock, Lucas and Wood counties, as well as Benton-Carroll-Salem and Genoa School districts in Ottawa County, and Woodmore School district in Sandusky County.

Savage said the Success Program offers hope for the eligible students “to get them on the path to lead them to a great career and a great future.”

Related story: UT offers TPS students free tuition

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Breaking News, Education.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.