Education Chancellor Eric Fingerhut envisions a collaboration between adult vocational centers, community colleges and four year universities that will encourage adults to pursue learning throughout their lives.
Fingerhut: "The reality is that's our workforce, 25-64 and even older. When companies are looking to locate here, thinking about whether they want to grow here are looking at the whole workforce. People 40 to 50 years old will be working another 20-30 years."
The Fingerhut plan would make it easier for adults to get their degrees more quickly by giving them credit for employment training or college prep courses they may have taken at adult learning centers. It also would remove barriers that now exist in transferring credit from community colleges to four-year universities.
Fingerhut: "We will have within 30 miles of every Ohioan associate and bachelor's degrees that will lead you to the good jobs you need in your area."
Fingerhut said he also plans financial inducements for schools that offer more weekend degree programs, which is when many working adults have time to attend college.
Kymberli Hagelberg 90.3