Ohio Student Community College Scholarships
Are You a High School Student in Ohio?
A new scholarship launches next year specially designed for Ohio students. The James A. Rhodes Leadership Foundation has developed an innovative new scholarship-to-work program. Slated to launch Fall 2008, the program is designed to offer a two-year community college tuition scholarship to one student from every high school—that’s a few hundred—in the state of Ohio. The program, officially called the “Diploma to Work” Scholarship program, has multi-pronged goals:
- Offer more students an affordable and practical Associates or certificate degree.
- Put those graduates together with good jobs and the right business and industry connections.
- Jettison the Ohio economy with a more self-sustaining and well-educated work force.
Eligible applicants must be:
- Graduating Ohio high school seniors.
- Enrolled in one of the state community or technical colleges.
- Demonstrate financial need.
- Demonstrate academic motivation.
- Able to support their commitment to the Diploma to Work program through a concise and well-written essay; and participate in a final panel interview.
- Able to maintain a C+ in academic studies.
- Commitment to work within the state for at least four years following graduation in a field related to their major.
The Rhodes Foundation is going full-speed-ahead with the project following the recent announcement that the state of Ohio granted it $10 million to get the project off the ground. Over the next 7 or 8 years the organization will solicit for major contributions to reach a final endowment of $65 million. Bookmark the foundation’s site to stay abreast of scholarship updates. Don’t miss this one.
Comments (1)
ianjames Says:
We are very excited about the possibilities that come with the programs that have been developed to provide greater access to college and enhance Ohio’s knowledge based workforce.
Our Diploma to Work will be enhanced with a statewide social networking component that will connect scholarship recipients (and employers) to each other by region and field of study to allow the scholarship recipients to realize that they are part of something bigger than just themselves. We envision these two programs (Diploma to Work & Social Networking) working in tandem to allow students and graduates to stay connected, provide peer-to-peer collaboration and introduce employers to a future workforce. In turn, this network is designed to improve grades, increase the level of graduation, and provide a the students as well as employers a vast network of people to provide each a strategic employment advantage.
No other state in the nation has a program that is designed to open the doors to college and work with its scholarship recipients and potential employers. We are on track to raise an additional $10 million by the end of 2007 which will allow the Rhodes Foundation to provide scholarships from an endowment of $20 Million. It is an exciting time in Ohio and we look forward to the possibilities that lie ahead.
Ian James
Chief Operating Officer
The James A. Rhodes Leadership Foundation (The Rhodes Foundation)