Looking for a Good Deal? Give YSU a Try
By Harold Gwin, Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio
Feb. 23–YOUNGSTOWN — It may not have been ranked as a top academic school, but Youngstown State University did make a couple of other top lists in U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Colleges of 2007.
YSU was recognized for its low tuition rate on the “Cheapest Public Schools” list and for the high percentage of applicants it accepts as students on the “Highest Acceptance List.”
The ranking in the latter category can be traced directly to YSU’s open-access admissions policy, which essentially gives just about everyone a shot at getting into college.
The trick, of course, is then performing at an academic level that allows one to remain a student.
YSU accepts 99.38 percent of its applicants, and students on campus Thursday thought the open-access mission of the university has worked well.
“It’s a good thing. It gives everybody a chance to be educated,” said Michael McGiffin of Poland, a junior finance and accounting major.
That, and YSU’s relatively low tuition at $6,713 a year, allow people to go to school who might otherwise not get that opportunity, he said.
That can be a good thing, agreed Danielle Wylie of Poland, a freshman special education major.
However, Wylie said she is aware that open access and low tuition have brought some students to campus who really don’t want to be here. They’re here just because their parents want them to be here, and they aren’t really motivated, she said.
Open access is good for this area, said Mark Jones of Youngstown, a freshman physical therapy and exercise science major who has seen a bit of the world.
He’s a veteran of the National Guard and a year ago was on deployment in the South, helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
If someone is trying to get an education, trying to make something of themselves, open access can be a real benefit, he said.
Phil Kinney of Cleveland, a senior marketing major, said he’s seen open access work for more than one of his friends.
One, in particular, was on academic probation at another school and was accepted as a transfer student at YSU and has since done quite well, Kinney said.
Pam Abbey, of Hubbard, a senior education major, has seen it work for a family member who struggled in high school but wanted to go to college. He was accepted by YSU, she said.
Ariel Foster of Youngstown, a senior nursing home administration major, offered the most personal observation about open access.
“I wasn’t a straight-A student in high school, but I became a straight-A student when I got here,” she said.
YSU’s making the list of highest acceptance rates means the university is “being true to our mission,” said Jonelle Beatrice, associate director of student life and director of the Center for Student Progress.
She believes that every student or potential student in the Mahoning Valley has an opportunity here. Many people come to the center thinking that college isn’t for them, but leave realizing that they can do it, she said.
The center’s purpose is to provide opportunity for success at YSU through a series of support programs such as one-on-one peer mentoring, one-on-one professional staff academic coaching, free tutoring and more.
YSU wasn’t the highest Ohio school on either the tuition or acceptance rate list.
It was number 363 of 451 colleges ranked on the cheapest-schools list, with number 1 being the least expensive, Hawaii. Among Ohio schools, it was behind Central State University at number 242 with a tuition rate of $5,294 and Shawnee State University at number 257, with tuition at $5,436. Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania came in at number 352 with tuition at $6,212.
Shawnee State and the University of Rio Grande both had 100 percent acceptance rates, as did 20 other schools. YSU, at 99.38 percent, was number 28 of 95 schools on that list.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio
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