View full sizeJovan Tuba, left, and Jessiah Hayes are both students at the Early College High School on the University of Akron campus. The program could be moved into the old Central-Hower High School, which the university wants to acquire from the Akron school district. AKRON, Ohio -- The University of Akron plans to offer full-tuition scholarships to eligible Akron public school students under an innovative deal that would allow the university to acquire an almost vacant city high school on campus.
University of Akron President Luis Proenza and Akron Superintendent David James appeared today before the House Education Committee seeking support for legislation that would require a public school district planning to sell a building to first offer it to a state university with a campus within the district.
If the university accepted, in exchange it could provide the school district with in-kind services or educational programs valued at the appraised fair market value of the property. The university's board also could opt to pay outright for the building in question.
The legislation was introduced by Rep. Lynn Slaby, a Republican from Copley Township, specifically so UA could acquire the 230,000-square-foot Central-Hower High School, valued at $13 million, and in exchange establish the Innovation Generation Scholarship.
High school graduates would be eligible for full tuition scholarships if they have a 3.0 high school GPA and score a 27 on the ACT, rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class and score a 26 on the ACT or have 3.5 GPA and score a 24 on the ACT.
The scholarship would cover tuition, which is currently $9,244 a year, but UA's cost would be reduced if the student is eligible for federal grants. A student would receive the scholarship each year as long as he or she maintains a 3.0 GPA, Proenza said in an interview Tuesday.
He expects the program to be under way this fall and that about 110 students would qualify. Money would come from the university's scholarship fund and he hopes to attract donors to keep funding the program in perpetuity.
"We want to use this opportunity to create a very, very strong signal to students and their parents that achievement matters," Proenza said. "And it will be rewarded. Not only will we advance the individual success of the students, but the talent base in our community which is essential for our future success."
James said about 1,400 Akron students will graduate this year. About 48 percent go to college and the majority choose the University of Akron, followed by Kent State University.
So while the program may not increase the number of enrolled students, it will increase the quality, he said.
"We will use this program to inspire our students to achieve so they are eligible for those scholarships," James said Tuesday.
Proenza said he is unaware of any similar program. In Michigan, the Kalamazoo Promise provides scholarships to all graduates of the Kalamazoo public schools. The state of Georgia provides scholarships of several thousand dollars to eligible residents who attend private or public colleges in the state.
UA already has a strong partnership with the Akron schools, Proenza said. It is a partner with the National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) middle school, and the Early College High School program.
In Early College, about 400 high school students attend classes on UA's campus. Freshmen and sophomores take high school classes and a few college courses. During their junior and senior years, students take almost a full load of college classes. Students graduate with a high school diploma and two years of college credit.
Proenza said the university would like to collaborate and create a STEM high school in the Central-Hower building. The building also could house the university's Education Department and Early College, he said.
Central-Hower closed in June 2006, but some career education programs remain in the building, James said.
Attorneys for the school district and university suggested that legislation would be needed to create a model that could be used across the state, Proenza said. The Inter-University Council of Ohio, which represents public universities, supports the plan, he added.
Under the proposed legislation, charter schools -- public, but independently operated -- within a school district would be second in line to be offered unused district buildings. Just last year, a new law took effect requiring districts to make such buildings available to charters for sale or lease before putting them on the market.
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