Overall Rating Bronze - expired
Overall Score 40.97
Liaison Joseph Argiro
Submission Date Sept. 12, 2013
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.2

Central Ohio Technical College
PAE-10: Affordability and Access Programs

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Tara Houdeshell
Director of Gateway Operations
Gateway
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have policies and programs in place to make it accessible and affordable to low-income students?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s participation in federal TRIO programs:
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A brief description of the institution’s policies and programs to minimize the cost of attendance for low-income students?:
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A brief description of the institution’s programs to equip the institution's faculty and staff to better serve students from low-income backgrounds:

The "Bridges Out Of Poverty" guiding team led the facilitation of professional development opportunities for campus faculty and staff, i.e. raising awareness of the effect that the socio-economic class of our students may have within the classroom and while participating in and accessing campus services. Through the process of providing this professional development opportunity, the institutional barriers that our prospective and current students face were highlighted and used to inform future access and retention programming. Providing this level of development for our faculty and staff served to:

1. Raise awareness,
2. Prompt reflection on personal (individual, departmental and institutional) responsibility and accountability,
3. Provide a platform for building a plan to better serve our students based upon the awareness and reflection,
4. Allow us to implement strategies to counter the issues identified, effectively increasing retention efforts on campus.

Successes include:
- Creation of a 4 hour training session for faculty and staff,
- Implementation of training to the following groups: Financial Aid, Fees and Deposits, The Gateway, Library Staff, Student Life, Tutoring Cente and Center for Academic Success, reaching over 100 individuals, and,
- Implementation of training to all faculty during faculty development Days with keynote speaker and author of "Understanding and Engaging Under Resourced College Students", Karla Krodel.


A brief description of the institution’s programs to prepare students from low-income backgrounds for higher education:
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A brief description of the institution's scholarships for low-income students:

As a result of the Next Generation Challenge, COTC will see an increase in scholarship dollars over the next five years. Many of these scholarships are targeted at students that demonstrate financial need/are low-income students.


A brief description of the institution’s programs to guide parents of low-income students through the higher education experience:
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A brief description of the institution’s targeted outreach to recruit students from low-income backgrounds:

- Adult Basic Literacy Education (ABLE)
- GED related presentations, committee service, transitioning ABLE students to higher education, aligning pre-college and ABLE curriculum
- Job and Family Services/Employment One-Stops
- Partnering on-site, programming and advising of dispaced workers, committee service, and foster care liaisons.


A brief description of the institution’s other admissions policies and programs:
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A brief description of the institution’s other financial aid polices or programs:

- COTC is a state-supported technical college and our mission is focused on access. We strive to keep our tuition low increasing access for low-income students and provide a quality education to all students.

- For the last 10 years, The Ohio State University at Newark and Central Ohio Technical College have been host to "College Goal Sunday", a community event to assist students and parents to file their FAFSA.

- The Financial Aid webpage has detailed explanations on the application process, rights and responsibilities and FAQs.

- All schools that participate in Federal Aid programs must provide a Net Price Calculator on their website to estimate college costs at each institution.


A brief description of the institution’s other policies and programs not covered above:
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The website URL where information about programs in each of the areas listed above is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Tara Houdeshell, Director of Gateway Operations, and Faith Phillips, Director of Financial Aid both contributed to Affordability & Access programs.


Tara Houdeshell, Director of Gateway Operations, and Faith Phillips, Director of Financial Aid both contributed to Affordability & Access programs.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.