Guiding Principle

The Clermont Educational Opportunities Program is a college access program designed to increase the number of students who pursue education beyond high school. Partnering with Clermont County high schools, the program opens the door to post-secondary education by providing career guidance, campus visits, mentoring, financial counseling, and "Last Dollar" scholarships.

Our mission is to develop programs that provide opportunities for all Clermont County students to go on to higher education. The goals of the program are:

1. To motivate and encourage elementary, middle and high school students to stay in school and pursue higher education, by making them and their parents aware of the benefits and the necessity of post-secondary education.
2. Assign a college access advisor to each partnering school to give advice to students and parents regarding postsecondary options, school selection, available scholarships and financial aid.
3. To provide "Last Dollar" scholarships for those students who have demonstrated additional financial need.
4. To provide transitional help as the student goes from high school to post-secondary education and to provide support to help the student stay in school and graduate.

Clermont Educational Opportunities Program

A college access program partnering with Clermont County high schools to offer programs that provide opportunities for all students to go on to some form of higher education.

Services provided:

• On-site advisor services throughout school year, at no charge to student.
• College-bound workshops in the fall for seniors and parents (other students besides seniors are invited to attend).
• Financial Aid/FAFSA workshops in January and February.
• Postsecondary Readiness meeting in April for parents of juniors.
• One-on-one meetings throughout school year with students/families enrolled in the program to assure that they are on-track with deadlines, etc., related to accessing higher education.
• Facilitate the "Making It Count" Program, including arrangements for speakers, etc. to each high school grade level.
• Enrolled students are eligible to apply for Last Dollar Grant Scholarship.
• Provides Master Scholarship Resource List, which includes many diverse local, state and national scholarships.
• Access to technology-based Resource Center and Ohio Career Information System (OCIS) at various public library branches.
• Updates on test preparation and college/career fairs.

Mentoring Program

Partnering with county high schools, this program provides trained volunteer mentors to work with 10-15 incoming freshman students identified as ‘at-promise’ and to continue meeting weekly throughout their high school years, encouraging them to stay in school, build self-esteem and develop the life skills they will need to ultimately enrich their lives and strengthen our community. Students participating in the mentoring program may also enroll in the college access program in senior year.

College and Career Resource Centers

Partnering with Clermont County Public Library, the Clermont Educational Opportunities program will open Resource Centers in several branch locations. Each location will provide free access to an online college and career information database (Ohio Career Information System), resource information on colleges, universities, technical schools and certification programs, scholarship searches, financial aid information and career development resources. For more information and locations please click here to download a brochure.