HOSTS on Comcast Newsmakers Video Transcript - Ohlone College Foundation

in this June 2010 interview on Comcast Newsmakers with Barbara Rogers, Ohlone College Foundation Director Dave Smith explains HOSTS Scholarships, how you can help, and how students can apply. Go to the HOSTS on Comcast Newsmakers video.

Transcript of Comcast Newsmakers Video

Barbara Rogers: Hello everyone and welcome to Comcast Newsmakers. I'm Barbara Rogers and with me is Dave Smith, the Executive Director of the Ohlone College Foundation. Now how closely aligned is the Foundation with the College?

Dave Smith: Very closely aligned, Barbara, we work hand and glove with the Ohlone College.

Rogers: And what does the Foundation actually do?

Smith: We provide support to the college for the students for our faculty, for program support, and just anywhere where we can add value to the College.

Rogers: You do that through scholarships too, right?

Smith: That's one of the key things, is helping our students because the need has never been greater for our student population. So we work very hard at helping deserving young people succeed.

Rogers: How much money do you give out, and how do people get access to it? If there's a student who says, "I would really like to have a college scholarship to Ohlone College, what kind of students are you looking for, and how do you get the money?

Smith: One thing that's interesting about community college students is the average student age is 28, and we have a real mixture in our student body because now with the UCs and the Cal States increasing their tuition and curtailing classes, we're getting a large number of transfer students coming in. But now with the high unemployment in the Bay Area as well, particularly with the NUMMI closing, we're getting an increased demand for training and classes and retraining because of that as well. And our students today, in a community college, still has a very great bargain in the education world because a credit unit costs $26.

Rogers: That is a bargain in today's world!

Smith: It really is.

Rogers: Anything you get for $26!

Smith: It sure is. So you can take a full semester of classes, 15 classes for $390. We have found that people really like - we have a new program called HOSTS, which stands for Helping One Student To Succeed - and when they find out that $500 can make such a significant difference to a student - pay their tuition for a whole semester and make a dent in their books, they're willingly writing checks to help individuals move forward with their education.

Rogers: I understand you've raised quite a bit for this HOSTS fund so far.

Smith: Quite a bit, we just started with the HOSTS program a little over 3 months ago, and we've already raised - we're coming close to $25,000 in $500 at a time. Individuals who write a check for this cause get to have a scholarship named for them, their business, a loved one, anyone they think is appropriate.

All they have to do is get in touch with me, and we'll fix it up so that they're very happy to be a scholarship donor. We can also do different criterion, for example if you want to see a certain grade point level or the student majoring in a certain subject or living in a certain city...we can filter it any way because we have a scholarship application program going back to your original question about how does a student apply. It's called STARS and they fill in all their background information and through a series of filters once they hit submit it directs them to all the scholarship to which they're eligible to apply.

Rogers: Where do they go to get all this information about how to apply or how to donate the scholarships?

Smith: It's on our website at www.ohlone.edu and you can go to our foundation page and you'll find out all about the HOSTS Scholarship opportunities as well as many other ways to help Ohlone College and the students.

Rogers: with all the cutbacks that are happening, are you able to accommodate all the students who want to come now to junior colleges and two year colleges?

Smith: At this point we have also had to limit enrollment, and that is what's really sad about this becasue the need has never been greater. But for those who have been able to get enrolled, we are able to provide a lot of financial assistance to them. This year we'll give out over $100,000 in scholarships to deserving Ohlone students.

Rogers: That's a wonderful thing to hear. Thank you so much Dave Smith from the Ohlone College Foundation. And thank you for watching Comcast Newsmakers, hope you will be with us again next time.