|
UT@TPS Supports
Adult Learners with Family Responsibilities to Pursue GED or
College Degree
Special to The
Truth
Adults in the Toledo area are participating in the fourth
semester of a program designed to support their learning
needs. UT@TPS, a program within the University of Toledo
College of Adult and Lifelong Learning, provides continuing
education opportunities designed for Toledo Public School
parent-guardians, but open to any interested adult in the
community.
Though the adult students directly benefit, their children
and the children in the host school benefit as well. They
have strong role models for staying in school and pursuing
postsecondary education. And when they get to college
themselves, as second-generation college students they will
be much more likely to complete degrees.
The program takes a holistic approach that helps the
parent-students coordinate their educational efforts with
their family responsibilities, and provides social services
advising including life skills information and access to
resources.
UT’s Workplace Credit Program (WCP) is responsible for
providing classes located off-campus, and WCP scholarships
22 percent of tuition costs and the General Student Fees.
That means students pay considerably less than they would on
campus, but still have access to all campus resources, like
the libraries, computer labs, football games, and the
student recreation center, and can belong to all student
groups. Currently, students who qualify for federal student
aid (Pell grants) can attend college through the program,
parttime, without incurring any student loan debt.
GED classes are absolutely free of charge, with all
materials provided and individualized work according to
individual students’ needs.
Toledo Public Schools contributes the meeting space and
computer lab access. Through state grants, Penta Career
Center contributes the GED coursework, which the program
calls “pre-college,” even though students aren’t obligated
to go into the college classes.
Classes take place at Samuel M. Jones at Gunckel Park
Elementary School, on the corner of Nebraska and Collingwood
and are all held during TPS hours and following the TPS
schedule. That means that if the K-12 students have a snow
day, their parents have one, too, and it means that their
parents’ break weeks match TPS’s.
College students have two routes open to them. They can take
core coursework at Jones, and then work with UT advisors in
the College of Adult and Lifelong Learning (CALL) to pursue
the degree of their choice on the UT main campus. Or, they
can pursue an Associate Degree in Business Management, and
take all their coursework at the Jones site.
For more information or to start the admissions process,
contact the UT College of Adult and Lifelong Learning at
419-530-3126 or visit the website at
www.utoledo.edu/call/ut_tps.
UT@TPS is a collaboration of the University of Toledo
College of Adult and Lifelong Learning, Penta Career Center,
Toledo Public Schools, The Padua Center, and Toledo-Lucas
County Public Library—Mott Branch. It has received
additional support from the Toledo Community Foundation, the
Dean’s Innovation Fund of the Judith Herb College of
Education, Health Science, and Human Service. |
