Ashland University Partners with Say Yes to Education

ASHLAND, Ohio – Ashland University has joined Say Yes to Education, a national nonprofit organization that helps students from urban school districts go to, and pay for, college.

The announcement of the partnership was made on Jan. 18 at a media event held at John Marshall High School in Cleveland. The event was attended by Maggie McGrath, director for the Higher Education Compact of Greater Cleveland, as well as Kevin Doss, chairman of the Board of Trustees for Ashland University.

In joining the Say Yes Higher Education Compact, Ashland University agrees to ensure that most of the students served by the organization -- usually those whose annual family income is at or below $75,000 -- are eligible, at a minimum, to attend tuition-free, subject to the institution’s regular admission and financial aid process. The students must also satisfy residency and other requirements in their particular Say Yes community.

“Ashland University is delighted to become part of the Say Yes to Education community and our partnership with Say Yes to Education is a reflection of our determination to increase affordability and improve access to higher education,” said AU President Dr. Carlos Campo. “We look forward to working with Say Yes students and their families. Say Yes has done extraordinary work providing students from underserved communities with the support they need, academically and financially. Through this relationship, Ashland University will recruit, educate and fully prepare these students for a lifetime of success.”

While joining the coalition of more than 100 private colleges and universities from 26 states and the District of Columbia, which includes the eight colleges and universities of the Ivy League as well as Duke, Stanford and Notre Dame, Ashland University stands with Say Yes and its partner cities like Cleveland to foster college-going culture and to offer scholarships to eligible public high school graduates.

As part of the agreement between Say Yes and the Cleveland partnership, the first class to receive Say Yes Scholarships would be the High School Graduating Class of 2019.

Say Yes, which has its headquarters in New York City, was founded in 1987 by George Weiss, founder of the asset management firm, Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers. Its mission has evolved over its 27-year history. For two decades Say Yes offered an array of services, and ultimately full-tuition college scholarships, to select groups of public school students. While Say Yes adopted a citywide approach in 2008, college scholarships are still available to several hundred students in the organization's earlier chapters in Harlem in New York City; and Philadelphia and Hartford, Conn. More than 10,000 high school graduates have attended college with the support of Say Yes since the organization's inception.