Seniors to Sophomores funding adds to opportunities for high school students
As part of plan to give Ohio teens the competitive edge, EHOVE Career Center has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Board of Regents to allow qualifying seniors to take college-level classes while enrolled in high school.
Known as the Seniors to Sophomores program, this dual enrollment program, announced by Strickland in his 2008 State of the State address, enables qualified high school seniors to get an early jump on college.
Seniors to Sophomores allows high school seniors, who meet academic standards, to take college level courses that will be transferable to public colleges and universities in the University System of Ohio. Students who elect to take a full load of college courses in their senior year will be able to enter college on a second-year level, or as college sophomores. Tuition for the year will be free.
A total of $4 million is available under this special grant program. The maximum grant for each team is $100,000. Due to the source of the funds, eligibility is limited to public high schools, though the Seniors to Sophomores program will eventually serve all schools in Ohio, public and private. Funds may be used to plan for encouraging high school students to participate in all college-level programs, as well as implementation of Seniors to Sophomores.
EHOVE, in partnership with BGSU Firelands, currently offers free college classes to juniors and seniors through College Tech Prep programs. The new Seniors to Sophomores program opens up the number of programs of study, which in turn allows an even greater number of students to be benefit, said Superintendent Sharon Mastroianni. “In order to compete in a global economy all students, including career and technical students, must continue their education and/or training after high school.
“The grant dollars will assist all seniors in the EHOVE community to take advantage of Governor Strickland’s vision, to ‘address the variety of barriers around our state that students face in earning college credit’ so they can ‘leave high school with the confidence and credits to continue their higher education to receive a college degree’.”
