Video: Columbus launches fundraising campaign to extend Columbus Promise
Columbus leaders are looking to extend the city’s tuition-free college program through both public and private funds.
- The Columbus Promise, a tuition-free college program, has received an additional $2.1 million in funding from various businesses and nonprofits.
- The fundraising campaign has reached $17.6 million of its $25 million goal, with the largest new donation being $1 million from the AEP Foundation.
- The program aims to increase college attendance among Columbus City Schools graduates and address the region’s workforce needs.
Local business, city and education leaders appear to be on track in keeping the Columbus Promise.
In February, leaders from the City of Columbus, Columbus City Schools, Columbus State Community College, the college access program I Know I Can, the Columbus Partnership and several private business partners, announced a $25-million fundraising campaign to fund the next phase of the tuition-free college program.
More than half of that goal had already been pledged through a combination of public and private money. Multiple business leaders announced at Wednesday’s Columbus Metropolitan Club event that they would give an additional $2.1 million to the Columbus Promise.
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The largest gift came from the AEP Foundation totaling $1 million. Janelle Coleman — vice president of corporate philanthropy and community engagement and president of the American Electric Power Foundation — said investing in local students is good business sense.
“It is upon us in the private sector, and in the public sector, to invest in our young people… We cannot afford not to do this,” she said.
Coleman was joined on the panel by Columbus City Schools Superintendent Angela Chapman, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, and Desiree Polk-Bland, Columbus State Community College’s senior vice president for student success.
In addition to AEP’s gift, Coleman also announced donations from several other businesses and nonprofits: $300,000 from Nationwide, $300,000 from Huntington Bank, $225,000 from J.P. Morgan Chase, $200,000 from The Columbus Foundation, and $100,000 from DLZ.
Hardin said Wednesday’s announcement brings the fundraising campaign total to $17.6 million.
In February, the city pledged $10 million for the program, the first installment of which will be given later this year. Multiple other donors have already pledged another $5.5 million: $3 million from Installed Building Products and Edwards Companies, $2 million from the Cardinal Health Foundation, and $500,000 from IGS Energy.
What is the Columbus Promise?
City officials first introduced the Columbus Promise in November 2021 with a mission to increase the number of college-bound Columbus City Schools graduates and meet the region’s growing need for a skilled workforce.
The program allows any Columbus City Schools graduate to attend Columbus State tuition-free for six semesters. It is a last-dollar scholarship, meaning it pays for any costs not covered by other aid like federal Pell Grants. Students also receive a $500 stipend per semester to help pay for rent and other bills, and they have access to dedicated coaching and academic support from the college.
About half of the money raised from the campaign will fund tuition, fees, and stipends for students, and the remaining portion will go toward programming for Columbus City Schools students and Promise scholars. This new round of funding will also support academic readiness and student success programs at the college and high school levels, especially for English, math, and career exposure.
Since the program began, about one-third of Columbus City Schools’ graduating classes are enrolled as Promise Scholars, Hardin said. The district’s college-going rate is now about 50%, up from 32% in 2020.
A record 848 new Columbus City School students enrolled in the program this term, Polk-Bland said.
The next phase of the program will cover the remaining costs for the initial three Columbus Promise cohorts and fully fund an additional three cohorts beginning in the fall of 2025, 2026, and 2027. Those cohorts combined will likely include at least another 2,250 students.
‘A moral imperative’
All of the panelists took the opportunity Wednesday to call on business leaders to get involved with the Columbus Promise.
Hardin said the need is two-fold. The program needs funding, but it also needs businesses to hire Columbus Promise students for internships and full-time employment. Polk-Bland said the college and the program are committed to connecting students to “earn-and-learn opportunities,” meaning students are getting paid while learning about their career fields.
About 70% of Columbus State students attend part-time because they need to work. Hardin said finding jobs for students that are relevant to their studies is crucial. More local businesses partnering with the Columbus Promise could make that possible.
“If they’re studying IT, it’s probably not the best use of their time to have their job be delivering pizzas,” he said.
Hardin said the Columbus Promise is one way the city is working to meet the region’s growing workforce needs.
In 2019, about the time that Hardin and other local leaders started talking about crafting a promise program, the Central Ohio Compact estimated that central Ohio would need about 65% of young people to have some kind of credential to meet workforce needs. At the time, it was estimated that it would take until about 2060 to meet that goal.
The Columbus Promise is already helping to meet that need, Hardin said. For instance, about 24% of all Columbus Promise scholars are studying a health care-related major, just one of several local industries in need of hundreds of workers.
Chapman said the Columbus Promise is removing barriers for students and their families to higher education. She said it is “a moral imperative” for the community to step up.
“Our students can’t be on the outside looking in; they can’t,” Chapman said. “That would be on us.”
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.