COLUMBUS, Ohio
Financially struggling Central State University needs an extra $33 million in state funding to preserve its role as Ohio’s only public historically Black college, its president said this week.
The special request would allow the school to upgrade its buildings, improve its academic programs and offer more financial aid to many of the low-income students who enroll there, President John Garland told the Ohio Board of Regents.
“We add much value to the lives of our students and their families,” Garland said. A college education is one of the greatest tools for growing the state’s Black middle class, he added. Garland said the plan is critical to the school’s future.
About $23 million would go toward building a new student center. An additional $9.9 million would be spread out over three years to allow Central State to make other building improvements, create a new marketing plan and expand financial aid to help student retention.
If endorsed by the nine-member board, the plan would go to the state Legislature for final approval.Central State, located in Wilberforce, nearly closed its campus a decade ago because of financial difficulties and other problems. Enrollment is about 1,800 this year, up from previous years but still below the school’s peak enrollment of 3,263 in 1991. Ninety percent of the students are Black, according to the school’s Web site.
Garland said only 49 percent of the school’s freshmen return to the school as sophomores, in large part because many of the students lack the financial resources to continue their education.
