Qualified Ohio high school students now have the opportunity to round out their senior year in a college classroom at no cost to them.
Four Ohio University branch campuses are participating in the Seniors to Sophomores program, created last year by Gov. Ted Strickland as part of his goal to increase college enrollment to 230,000 by 2017.
Seniors to Sophomores is a dual enrollment program in which students take college courses that also fulfill high school graduation requirements.
It is a partnership for continued learning
said Michael Chaney, spokesman for the Ohio Board of Regents.
The 49 sets of high schools and nearby colleges participating each received grants of up to $100,000 to create the program. The one-time grant will be used this year to pilot the program and to help work out its details.
High schools and universities will use the grant ' which comes from the Ohio General Assembly, Board of Regents and Department of Education ' to enroll students and find ways to fund the program after the grant money dries up, Chaney said. The grant also can be used to expand other options such as post-secondary and advanced placement classes.
Students must take at least 36 credit hours during the year and cannot take classes at their high school, but can participate in extracurricular activities. To achieve sophomore status at OU, a student must earn 45 credit hours.
To participate in Seniors to Sophomores, students must have passed certain high school courses, the Ohio Graduation Test and must have scored college ready on their college's placement test.
Taking the SAT or ACT is not listed as a requirement for the program because some community colleges and branch campuses do not require them for admission, but individual colleges can decide for themselves, Chaney said.
OU's Chillicothe campus has 11 students from the Chillicothe and Union-Scioto districts participating in the program this year, said TJ Eveland, manager of student recruitment at Chillicothe.
Eveland is in charge of administering the program and the use of the grant at Chillicothe, and he is working with students and their high school guidance counselors to make sure they are meeting high school graduation requirements.
For example, if students need to complete a senior English class to graduate from high school, they might take English 151 to fulfill both the high school requirement and receive college credits. - Eveland said. We will make adjustments and we have to involve the high school. It's a multi-step task.
OU's Lancaster campus has eight students from Columbus City and Liberty Union schools.
I think for some students
it is going to be a wonderful opportunity to get college courses without cost to the family
said John Furlow, Lancaster's dean.
Lancaster and the two districts used part of their grant to hire an adviser to help students choose classes and meet high school requirements. The adviser has helped students understand the demands of a heavy course load and the importance of managing time wisely, Furlow said.
The counselor works with them
and if they find it's too much they can drop courses and do something different
Furlow said. It's been helpful in scheduling.
OU's Eastern campus has 14 students from five school districts participating. The three most popular subjects are English, economics and political science because they are commonly required for college graduation, said Crystal Lorimor, director of marketing and public relations at Eastern.
OU's Southern campus is also participating in the program, but it is using its grant to focus on other options such as AP courses taken at high schools, said Rena Allen, outreach director for Southern. This summer, it trained 13 teachers in nearby school districts to teach AP classes.
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