Lakeland Community College was recently awarded $574,000 from the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s (ODHE) Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program to provide funding for students in several health technologies areas of study.

While the college’s initial request was for $504,000, the ODHE extended an invitation to increase the award by 14% to bring the total to $574,000. In accepting the supplemental funding, Lakeland agreed to match the award dollar-for-dollar through private philanthropic support facilitated by The Lakeland Foundation. This support, along with the award brings the total amount of these scholarship opportunities for health technologies students to nearly $1.2 million.

“We are grateful that the ODHE not only granted our full request for funding, but added an additional $70,000 to our request,” said Lakeland president Morris W. Beverage Jr. “These grant dollars, along with a match by The Lakeland Foundation, will go a long way to help more health technology students succeed and graduate.”

The award letter also commended Lakeland’s commitment to increasing STEM graduates in Ohio.

As Ohio faces a shortage of health care workers, these scholarships are designed to graduate additional health care providers in high-demand occupations. Lakeland’s degree programs eligible for these scholarships include nursing, biotechnology, occupation and physical therapist assistant, respiratory therapist, medical laboratory technology, histotechnology, radiologic technology and health information management technology.

“The Lakeland Foundation is excited to participate in this initiative with the state to collectively provide more than $1 million in scholarships to health technologies students over the next five years,” said Greg Sanders, vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of The Lakeland Foundation. “We could not have done this without the support of our generous community of donors, and we thank them for their continued monetary backing and confidence not only in Lakeland’s academic programming, but also in The Lakeland Foundation’s stewardship of funding.”

New students beginning their first semester of any of the designated programs will be eligible to apply for the scholarships. Students interested in starting Lakeland in summer or fall 2022 terms can apply now at lakelandcc.edu/apply. After applying to Lakeland, students can find more specific information on how to apply for these scholarship awards at lakelandcc.edu/web/about/cof-scholarships.

Registration is open for fall 2022 semester, which begins Aug. 27. With questions or inquiries, contact Jessica Salas Novak at jnovak@lakelandcc.edu.

By: Adam Continenza, Mktg and Communications Spclst