For Immediate Release: February 15, 2006
Contact Person: Jennifer Blatz, Executive Director, 513.830.1200
 
Ohio College Access Network Announces Five College Success Partnerships
 
CINCINNATI (February 15, 2006) The Ohio College Access Network believes every student in Ohio can succeed in college and has launched the College Success Partnership Initiative to help make this happen.  The initiative will ensure that students not only have access to a postsecondary education, but also have the necessary resources in place to help them succeed in reaching their postsecondary goals.
 
Funded in part by The Sallie Mae Fund, OCAN has awarded planning grants to five communities in Ohio to develop College Success Partnerships around college retention and success.  The communities selected for the College Success Partnership funding will develop strategies to bridge the work of college access organizations, including state and federally funded programs like Tech Prep, TRiO and GEAR UP, with the work that takes place on college campuses to ensure that all students have resources available to continue their college education through graduation.
 
“We are very excited to help Ohio’s college access organizations build upon their work of helping students access and pay for postsecondary education.” said Jennifer Blatz Executive Director of the Ohio College Access Network “By collaborating with the very institutions in which many of their students enroll, these Partnerships will learn how best to lead low-income and first-generation students to degree completion.”