Sheila Kousaie and her sister drove all the way from near Canton to the Kent State Trumbull campus hoping to take advantage of a new program for the spring semester offering free tuition for the unemployed. Sheila says "free tuition is amazing."
Sheila says she hasn't been able to land a full time job in almost two years. Knowing that, with so many more people now being laid off from jobs with General Motors and elsewhere, picking up new skills and education is crucial. That was the thinking behind this pilot program which is only being offered at Kent Trumbull.
Dean Wanda Thomas tells us the program will be available to those potential students who've been laid off for economic reasons since last October and haven't taken any college level classes for at least three years and there must be space available.
What makes the program even more unique is that none of the University's funds are being diverted away from other student activities to pay for it. By regulation, Ohio colleges cannot waive tuition, so the campus is using revenue from on site gas wells to make up the difference. At this point, administrators don't know how long the gas well revenues will hold out, so they can't say yet whether or not this free tuition program will continue after spring semester.
