"In an effort to reach more students and potentially change their lives, the State has launched the 'Ohio Can! Go to College' initiative. SSU's goal is to increase enrollment to 5,000 students during this time," Rita Rice Morris, president of SSU, said. "In order to achieve the enrollment goals, our unique focus is in securing to support increased scholarship and internship opportunities for our students."
The initiative has been organized by the University System of Ohio, sponsored by the Ohio Board of Regents under the direction of Chancellor Eric Fingerhut. The program is being administered by the Ohio College Access network and partially funded by the Ohio legislature.
The plans focus is to increase scholarship money available to students to allow an additional 230,000 students to attend state institutions of higher education in the next 10 years.
“Scholarships and internships are vital for continuing education of today’s young people,” Morris said. “Scholarships open doors of opportunity for a student’s future and internships allow students to become part of the local workforce and have hands-on experiences to help them prepare for life after college.”
The 'Ohio can! Go to College' campaign hopes to raise $100 million by Dec. 31, 2009, which will allow up to 23,000 additional students to receive an affordable education. The initiative is also expected to create more than 500 new internships throughout the state while generating $3 million of income for college students.
"The support received through the 'Ohio can! Go to College' initiative will enhance SSU's efforts to encourage private investment in education, a critical need for Shawnee State's students," Morris said in donor material. "Invest today to empower our students to become the workforce, innovators, educators and leaders of tomorrow - making this region a better place for all of us."
"We are trying raise money for scholarships to help supplement the cost of students coming to Shawnee State. The economy is a little rocky right now, so having that extra amount of money for students is a good thing," Mandy Hart, associate director of development for SSU, said.
She said SSU believes this goal is attainable. "We feel there are many people who did not commit to the "Poised For Tomorrow" campaign," Hart said.
SSU's goal of $700,000 was set by the state as an amount of money that could be raised. "We received some grant funding though all the other state schools who participated in the grant. We received a grant of $70,000 and they (the state) wanted us to do a 10-for-one match," Hart said.
SSU is also raising money to help scholarship internships. If a student is involved in an internship, "sometimes there are some needs they have beyond getting paid for the internship. Such needs include mileage, uniforms or things that help them meet their needs," Hart said. “The support we receive from this initiative will be an investment in our students, empowering them to be the innovators, educators, and leaders of tomorrow, making this region a better place for all of us.”
For more information and on ways to give, contact Hart at 351-3364 or e-mail at mhart@shawnee.edu.
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