The University of Toledo (UT) hopes to inspire and attract more students from six Ohio urban communities with an innovative new scholarship program that covers 100% tuition and general fees for academically qualified students that also have financial need.
 
Public school students in Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Toledo can now attend UT for free under the “UT Guarantee,” if they meet the following eligibility requirements for the Blue and Gold Scholar Award:
• Apply for admission by Jan. 5, 2009.
• File Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by April 1, 2009.
• Display eligibility for a Pell Grant.
• Minimum high school grade-point-average of 3.0

Lawrence Burns, vice president for external affairs, says the UT Guarantee is about more than just increasing enrollment and spreading the UT name. “Due to today’s high cost of a college education, many high school students and their parents don’t think about it as a realistic opportunity,” said Burns. “We want to change that mindset and get our urban students to begin preparing themselves for a university education when they’re in junior high school. We’ve taken financial need out of the equation.”
 
The UT Guarantee program is good for all four years, as long as its recipients maintain a 3.0 grade-point-average, complete 30 credit hours each school year, and file a FAFSA annually.
  
Enrollment at UT surged by almost 6 percent university-wide this fall, marking the third consecutive year of increasing numbers. The enrollment increase includes 3,899 direct-from-high-school students, the largest number of incoming freshmen in UT’s history, and a jump of 8.5 percent over last year.
 
UT’s nine colleges currently offer more than 250 areas of study and enroll more than 22,000 students.
 
For more information about the program and a complete list of the eligible schools, visit http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/scholarships/bluegold.html