Ohio State’s regional campuses are increasing access to an Ohio State education through a “one university, many locations” approach.
The Presidential Commission on Regional Campuses has new recruitment and marketing messages in place, said W. Randy Smith, a member of the commission and vice provost in the Office of Academic Affairs.
Smith said the marketing messages are being distributed primarily through brochures and view-books which have an increased emphasis on the regional campuses.
Because the main campus has selective admission, a lot of students use regional campuses as an access point to the Columbus campus, said Hank Thomas, the coordinator of admissions and financial aid at the Mansfield campus. He said the small class size is another attraction for students.
“We have an enrollment limit of 55 students per class,” Thomas said. “That makes our class sizes smaller, while still having the same academic standards that the main campus offers.”
Ohio State’s Academic Plan calls for a better integration between the regional campuses and the main campus. Thomas said the introduction of residence halls at the regional campuses helps create this integration.
“The residence halls attract students who otherwise might not have come to a regional campus,” Thomas said.
Plans are underway for new residence halls in the Lima and Marion campuses.
Gail Stephenoff from the Office of Enrollment Management said 1,380 students changed campuses from a regional campus to OSU’s main campus last fiscal year. Stephenoff also said 589 students changed in autumn quarter.
Although that is an increase of more than 300 students per year over the last three years, Stephenoff said they expect that number to decrease by 800 to 900 students for the next fiscal year.
With the exception of students whose high school credentials qualify them for admission to the Columbus campus, the policy on changing campuses has been modified. The new policy requires students beginning at a regional campus to complete 45 credit hours before changing to the Columbus campus. The previous requirement was 30 credit hours.
The Office of Academic Affairs is looking into an expansion of curricula at regional campuses. Smith said an expansion will be “site specific” based upon community needs in the individual campuses and university approval.
“Mansfield has two large state prisons, so a program in criminology at the Mansfield campus would make sense,” Thomas said. “It’s something we don’t have right now.”
The commission has recommendations for immediate action, which include indicating “the regional campuses will expand the reach of the universitys missions and serve as valuable resources to each region in Ohio,” and revising the application for admission asking students to give a first choice and an alternate choice of campus.
The presidential commission was started in June 2001 by former Ohio State President William E. Kirwan. It was created to address issues relating to the university mission, governance, admissions, enrollment, students, student services, faculty and curriculum.
“It is an exciting time for the regional campuses,” Smith said. “They are getting a lot of attention from the university.”
