(A) Authority
This rule is established by authority conferred upon the
chancellor of higher education by section
3333.61 of the Revised
Code.
(B) Policy
The choose Ohio first scholarship program, aims to
makes awards to
universities and colleges for programs that recruit students into the
fields of science, including health professions,
technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), medicine and dentistry or in science, technology,
engineering, or mathematics, medical or dental education in order to enhance
regional educational and economic strengths and meet the needs of the state's
regional economies.
This rule is not applicable to the
primary care medical student and primary care nursing student components of the
choose Ohio first scholarship program. Those components are governed by
sections 3333.611 and 3333.612 of the Revised Code,
respectively.
(C)
Eligibility for the choose Ohio first scholarship program
State universities and colleges, as well as nonpublic four-year
institutions of higher education are eligible to compete for state funds to
implement novel, as well as well-proven, programs, strategies, and initiatives
designed to recruit, or to ensure greater academic success for,
and provide work-based learning opportunities through a
coop, internship, experience in a university, college or private laboratory, or
other workbased learning experiencesstudents
in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, medicine and
dentistry. Eligible programs of study will be identified with specific
STEM "Classification of Instruction Program" (CIP) codes on the
Ohiodepartment's
department of
higher education's web page,www.highered.ohio.gov
.located at
www.ohiohighered.org/cof.
(D) Requests for proposals
The chancellor of higher education shall
will prescribe a
competitive process for making awards under this program to eligible
institutions. The process shall
will include the periodic issuance of a request for
proposals to all or any segment of the eligible institutions. The chancellor
may limit the number of proposals eligible institutions may submit based upon
criteria the chancellor considers appropriate. The forms used in the proposal
process shall
will be prescribed by the chancellor and made
available each time a request for proposal is issued. The
requests
request for proposal
proposals
process shall be published on the Ohio
department's
department of higher education's web page,
located at www.ohiohighered.org/cofwww.highered.ohio.gov. Any request
for proposals for the choose Ohio first scholarship program
shall
is to
include:
(1) Instructions for
submitting a proposal, including the timelines, required format and any specific forms to be used
in the proposal; and
(2)
Eligibility requirements for submitting a proposal;
(3) Student eligibility and scholarship
amounts
, such as but not limited to:
;
(a) A student is not eligible to
earn more than one bachelor's or graduate degree with scholarship
funding.
(b) Only undergraduate students
without STEM bachelor's degrees are eligible to receive scholarship
funding.
(c) A "Choose Ohio First"
scholarship recipient less than full time with one semester left before
completion is eligible to receive the minimum scholarship amount of one
thousand five hundred dollars.
(4) Required cost share;
(5) Any minimum and maximum amount of award
to be granted by the chancellor.
(E) Review process of proposals
(1) Administrative review of proposals
(a) Prior to review and evaluation, the chancellor's staff will review the proposals to
ensure each proposal complies administratively with the general guidelines,
requirements, and program objectives.
(b) If a proposal does not comply
administratively, the chancellor may ask the applicant of the proposal
clarifying questions and request additional information. The applicant of the
proposal has ten days from notice of the defect to remedy the
proposal.
(c) At the chancellor's
discretion, a proposal that fails to comply administratively
shall
may not
be reviewed and evaluated.
(d) Proposals that are reviewed and
evaluated will be posted on the department's web site,
www.ohiohighered.org/cof.
(e)(d) The applicant of a
proposal not reviewed and evaluated shall
will receive
written notice within thirty days of the posted results of the administrative
review.
(2) Review panel
(a) The chancellor, in the chancellor's
discretion, may convene a panel, comprised of experts the chancellor appoints,
to review and evaluate proposals.
(b) The review panel, if convened, will
review and evaluate proposals in the following manner:
(i) Address the responsiveness of the
proposal to the requirements of the request for proposal
proposals;
(ii) Determine which proposals best meet the
evaluation criteria;
(iii)
Determine which proposals should be recommended to the chancellor for funding
consideration.
(c) The
review panel will make recommendations directly to the chancellor. The
chancellor shall
will take into account the review panel evaluations
and recommendations and shall
will make the final funding decisions. A proposal may
be accepted in part (with changes) as determined appropriate by the
chancellor.
(3) Review
of proposals in absence of panel
(a) If the
chancellor does not convene a review panel to review and evaluate proposals,
the chancellor, or the chancellor's designee(s),
shall
will review and
evaluate the proposals in the following manner:
(i) Address the responsiveness of the
proposal to the requirements of the request for proposal
proposals;
(ii) Determine which proposals best meet the
evaluation criteria;
(iii)
Determine which proposals should be considered for funding consideration,
or, in the case of review and evaluation by the
chancellor's designee(s), recommended to the chancellor for funding
consideration.
(b) The
chancellor shall
will exercise independent judgment in making final
funding decisions.
(F) Evaluation criteria
(1) The chancellor, or the chancellor's
designee(s) or review panel if convened, will review each proposal submitted in
response to each request for proposals. Proposals received by entities deemed
to be ineligible to submit proposals as defined in the request for proposals
shall
will not
be reviewed. The review of proposals shall
will include,
but not be limited to, the consideration of one or more of the criteria
specified in section 3333.62 of the Revised
Code.
(2) Special consideration
will be given to proposals that recruit
socially
disadvantaged individuals
underrepresented
populations.
Socially disadvantaged
individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or
cultural bias within American society because of their identification as
members of groups without regard to their individual qualities. Socially
disadvantaged individuals could also include:
(a) At least one objective
distinguishing feature such as race, ethnic origin, gender, physical handicap,
long-term residence in an environment isolated from the mainstream of American
society, or other similar causes not common to individuals who are not socially
disadvantaged
(b) Personal experiences of
substantial and chronic social disadvantage in
society.
(3) The
chancellor will endeavor to make awards under the choose Ohio first scholarship
program as set forth in section
3333.64 of the Revised
Code.
(4) Past performance for
institutions that have previously been awarded "Choose Ohio First" scholarships
may be considered in each competition that may include, but not limited to,
meeting reporting requirements, retaining and graduating students, and serving
as primary contact for student questions.
(G) Public meeting
Prior to final funding decisions by the chancellor, each
proposal submitted for consideration shall
will be
summarized by the chancellor's staff at a public meeting. Each public
university or college with a proposal pending for consideration
shall
will
have the opportunity to review the summary and answer questions or respond to
concerns about the proposal raised by the chancellor's staff.
(H) Selection and award agreement preparation
(1) Upon completion of the review and
evaluation process, and, if applicable, after recommendations have been made,
the chancellor shall
will determine which proposals receive awards, in
whole or in part. Applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of
their proposals.
(2) After a
proposal has been selected for funding by the chancellor, the chancellor's
staff will seek approval from the state controlling board to prepare the final
award agreement.
(3) At the request
of the chancellor, an institution selected for funding and seeking approval
from the state controlling board shall
will attend the controlling board
meeting.
(I) Award
agreements
(1) The institution with an award
approved by the controlling board shall
will enter into an agreement with the Ohio department
of higher education. The agreement will be based on the proposal as amended
with the inclusion of a revised budget or other amended conditions set forth by
the chancellor.
(2) Funding at the
requested levels will be contingent upon performance against the stated goals
and available funds.
(3) For three
additional years following the completion of the project period, the
institution will be required
need to submit an annual report detailing the overall
status of the project.
(4) Any
institution that violates the terms of its award agreement may be
required
instructed to repay the award plus interest at the
rate specified in section
5703.47 of the Revised
Code.
(J) Reporting and
performance requirements
(1) Institutions will
be required
need to submit regular reports as specified in the
award agreement. At
, which includes at a minimum, performance reports,
periodic success stories attributable to the state-funded program, and annual
reports for three years following the project period are required. The
institution will be responsible for submitting reports to the chancellor's
staff utilizing the specified mechanism.
(2) Each newly funded choose Ohio first scholarship program
institution will be required
need to implement a continuous assessment plan that
evaluates the program at its campus. Institutions are expected to complete the
project as described in the proposal as funded and as amended. The chancellor's
staff will assign a project administrator who will work with the institution
throughout the duration of the project. The chancellor's staff and institutions
will develop a series of performance metrics that will be used to measure
progress of the program. Institutions will be
required
are to collect appropriately
disaggregated baseline data, to measure progress through the collection and
analysis of standardized data elements, and to submit
required progress reports that record the
achievements of the plan within the context of the original
goals.
(K) Funding
(1) Cost share
(a) The award agreement will set forth
information regarding the program project budget and cost share. All reasonable
institutional operational and capital costs, that are directly associated with
delivering the project outcomes identified in the agreement may, in the
chancellor's discretion, be counted as eligible cost-share. The value of
institutional, public, or private industry cooperative work experiences and
internships shall
will count toward the statewide aggregate amount of
other institutional, public, or private money.
(b) As set forth in the award agreement,
participating institutions must
will make regular cost-share investments in the funded
choose Ohio first scholarship program project, but will have until the end of
the reporting period to meet the full cost-share
obligation.
(2) Allowable
and nonallowable expenses
(a) The entire
award should be used for scholarships, fellowships,
grants, or other monetary or nonmonetary incentives to students,
however, at the chancellor's discretion, the award agreement may allow for some
amounts of the choose Ohio first program to be used for
administration.
(b) All costs
incurred in preparation of a proposal shall
are to be borne
by the applicant, or applicants for a collaboration proposal, and are not
recoverable under an award.
Notes
Ohio Admin. Code
3333-1-61
Effective:
1/13/2024
Five Year Review (FYR) Dates:
10/27/2023 and
01/13/2029
Promulgated
Under: 119.03
Statutory
Authority: 3333.61
Rule
Amplifies: 3333.61,
3333.62,
3333.63,
3333.64,
3333.65,
3333.65,
3333.67,
3333.68,
3333.69
Prior
Effective Dates: 09/26/2007 (Emer.), 11/12/2008,
02/01/2018
