MANSFIELD — The Ohio State University at Mansfield has been selected as an “Opportunity College” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, a designation achieved by just 16 percent of all colleges and universities in the United States.
“This is hard evidence of what the faculty and staff of our campus have known for years: that the Mansfield campus of The Ohio State University enables students to flourish and thrive,” said Jason Opal, dean and director.
To be selected an “Opportunity College” by the Carnegie Institution, a college or
university needs to have both “high access” and “high earnings” scores, meaning
students from many social and economic backgrounds can access the school and that
those students earn significantly more money in the eight years after they graduate than peer groups from that region.
By way of comparison, highly selective schools, such as Ivy League universities, are “low access,” but “high earnings.”
They are very difficult and often expensive to enter, but their graduates tend to earn high incomes. On the other hand, many open-access and more affordable schools are “high access,” yet their students do not always much more than their peers, making them “low earnings.”
Only the Opportunity Colleges manage to have it both ways: to enroll all kinds of students, at affordable cost, while delivering a high rate of return on the investment in the form of better salaries and earnings.
“It’s a kind of ‘goldie-locks’ designation,” Opal said.
Specifically, the Mansfield campus of Ohio State follows an open enrollment policy and has a high percentage of Pell-eligible and first-generation students, making it a high access school. And according to the Carnegie study, its graduates earn 1.77 times what their peers do eight years after graduating, making it an exceptionally high earning school.
“I began my career at a selective, expensive college in Maine, and its graduates earn
about 1.7 times their peers. The Ohio State University at Mansfield delivers higher returns at a fraction of the cost—not to mention a fraction of the stress of applying,” Opal said.
Indeed, the accessibility of Mansfield and the other regional campuses of The Ohio State University is about to increase even more.
This Fall, the new Regional Campus Commitment will enable students from middle- and lower-income families to begin their Ohio State education at these campuses tuition-free. The benefit stays in place as long as students qualify, whether they choose to stay at the regional campus or transition later to the Columbus campus.
“Our goal is to be excellent, not exclusive,” Opal said. “We’re just getting started.”
About Ohio State University at Mansfield
The Ohio State University at Mansfield offers the caliber of a Big Ten education with the personal attention of a small campus. With a commitment to academic excellence and community engagement, Ohio State Mansfield provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their careers and contribute to their communities.