Ohio State University is looking to provide some assistance to Ohio’s preschool and child-care teachers looking to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

The University announced that using $3.9 million in scholarships, it will provide free tuition to 100 early educators a year every five years so long as they agree to teach in Columbus.

"The scholarships are expected to help Ohio State’s Early Head Start Partnership, which works in the city’s Franklinton, Hilltop, South Linden, Near East, South and University District neighborhoods,” said The Columbus Dispatch.

Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther has made focusing on preschool education a focal point of his time in office in hopes of educating more of the city’s four-year-olds.

"Ginther also wants state lawmakers to treat preschool education as part of the public-education program and offer transportation to young students. He said school should be pre-K through 12th grade,” the article said.

Early educators could use the extra assistance- a recent survey from the National Association for the Education of Young Children revealed that most early educators can’t afford to make ends meet.

84 percent of early educators said living day-to-day life was tough due to insufficient salary and benefit, so Columbus’ early educators could likely use the extra financial assistance.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

3/25/2016