Morgan Barnard started her college career at Ohio University, but after a semester, she decided she wanted to be closer to home.
She was a freshman at OU last semester studying early childhood education but is now at Kent State University's Ashtabula campus studying occupational therapy.
“The main reason why I left … I actually live four hours away from OU, and my mom and I are very close,” Barnard said. “It is just her and I, and I thought that going (to OU) wouldn’t be too far from home, but it wouldn’t be too close either.”
As the semester went on, it was hard for Barnard to be away from her mother.
“She is in and out of the hospital a lot because she has Crohn’s disease,” Barnard said.
Her mom has had Crohn’s disease for 13 years but said it has started to get worse the past few years.
She is one of 310 first-year students who left OU after Fall Semester.
Craig Cornell, senior vice provost for strategic enrollment management, said 3,999 of the 4,309 first-year students enrolled during Fall Semester registered for Spring Semester classes.
Last academic year, 281 first-year students left OU after Fall Semester, and 377 first-year students left OU after Fall Semester during the 2014-15 academic year.
“Students leave for a myriad of reasons every year and every term at all institutions,” Cornell said in an email. “These range from financial to personal and represents the real-life situations that students and families have.”
If a student is thinking about leaving OU, Cornell said they should contact their adviser, academic department or the Allen Student Advising Center.
OU is working to provide other ways students can continue their education.
“We have been working diligently to provide online and multi-campus opportunities for students to continue their education from home or at any of our additional physical locations around the State,” Cornell said in an email.
Annelise Gibson said she left OU for Wittenberg University to be closer to her family and to be a part of a competitive swimming team. She is from Springfield, which is where Wittenberg is located.
“I am really close with my family and do a lot with them, so it was ideal to be a little closer,” Gibson, a freshman studying early childhood education, said.
Gibson was on OU’s club swimming team and is on Wittenberg’s NCAA Division III swim team.
“I did not get scholarships for swimming,” Gibson said. “But I got a lot of other scholarships and grants along with financial aid, whereas I didn’t get any of those at OU.”
She said she came to OU because of the campus and the atmosphere, but she regrets applying to only three universities.
“As soon as I went to OU, it was my first visit. I was convinced it was the school for me, and I didn’t visit any other schools,” Gibson said. “(OU) felt like home, but as time went on, I realized I really missed swimming competitively.”
Even though Barnard transferred to another university, she said her time at OU was not wasted.
“I am not one to party and stuff, but I did meet some really good friends, and the campus itself is very beautiful,” Barnard said.
