BGSU receives $4.3M grant supporting students in STEM

Bowling Green State University has received a $4.3 million grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) to support students in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEM). The funding includes a $1.1M allocation to create new scholarship opportunities for incoming students, with the remaining $3.2M in support of extending scholarship funding for current students.

ODHE granted additional funds to BGSU through the Choose Ohio First (COF) grant, designed to significantly strengthen Ohio’s competitiveness within STEM disciplines and STEM education. ODHE aims to impact Ohio’s position in world markets such as aerospace, medicine, computer technology and alternative energy to produce substantive improvements to the pipeline of STEM graduates and STEM educators in Ohio.

“Because the newly approved scholarships will best address the northwest Ohio workforce needs in STEM fields, we have made an effort to intentionally select students including women and socially disadvantaged individuals, which will go a long way in encourage and retaining students in STEM majors” said Betsy Johnson, director of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships. “In addition, we are thankful to receive the dollars to continue to fund our current COF scholarship recipients to help them complete their program and graduate.”

The COF scholarship program began in 2008 as a way to increase the number of Ohio students enrolling in and successfully completing STEM programs at Ohio’s public and independent colleges and universities. BGSU was among the first Ohio universities to receive funding. Since then, the COF grant has provided assistance to more than 500 students at BGSU.

Selected new, first-time students will receive a $3,000 scholarship for the upcoming 2021-2022 academic year. In addition, recipients will receive intensive academic assistance, career counseling and the opportunity to conduct research and gain related work experience as undergraduates. The COF scholarship can be renewed for up to three additional years, or six semesters.

BGSU is one of 45 colleges and universities in the state to receive a grant.