More than 1,000 students attending Ohio University have the cost of classes covered because a parent, spouse, partner or themselves work for the university.
When Sara Sand was a freshman living in the Read-Johnson Scholars’ Complex, she walked into a resident assistant staff office to find photos of her father’s face staring back at her.
“I walked downstairs and was talking to one of the staff members and they were like, ‘Look, your dad’s face is everywhere,’ ” Sara said. “I was like, ‘That’s really weird.’ ”
Sara, a junior studying engineering physics, said one of the staffs in the complex decorated the other staff’s office with photos of her father as a joke, Jim Sand, the assistant director of residence life on East Green, said.
Ohio University provides educational benefits to faculty and staff that work for the university, their spouse or domestic partner and children, according to OU’s website. The benefits cover the cost of classes taken for credit for undergraduate and eLearning courses.
Full-time, permanent employees can utilize the benefits to have 100 percent of instructional fees waived; part-time, permanent employees are eligible to have 50 percent of instructional fees waived, according to OU's website.
During the 2015 fiscal year, 1,218 people used the educational benefits, OU spokeswoman Katie Quaranta, said. At least 1,000 people have utilized the benefits every year since the 2011 fiscal year.
Sara said knowing that she would not have to pay for tuition at OU played a role in her decision to attend after graduating from Athens High School.
“It sets the bar a little higher, I think, of the places you’re gonna apply,” Sara said. “I definitely considered other places, but I knew that I’d get to study abroad and do all these other things if I came here and tuition was already covered.”
Peter Andrews, an OU junior studying French and linguistics, said both of his parents work for the university.
“I know a ton of my friends, well, a lot people from my high school especially, probably wouldn’t have gone to college if their parents didn’t work here,” Andrews said. “One of my friends, his mom was divorced and she didn’t work at OU and so he was getting nailed with bills and loans and stuff. And she actually married someone who works at OU, and now his life is just a breeze.”
Yonry Zhu, a junior studying engineering physics and mechanical engineering, attends OU and his father, Jim Zhu, is an electrical engineering and computer science professor. Yonry, an alumnus of Athens High School, said about half of his graduating class went on to attend OU.
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“You see things from two perspectives, like you see things from a professor's perspective and you see things from a student’s perspective,” he said. “Talking with him, talking with other professors I can empathize with them as well, which, I think, is something a lot of students aren’t able to do.”
Yonry added that he sees his father around Stocker Center from time to time, and will occasionally eat lunch with him.
Many students who attend OU due to waived instructional fees are also able to easily head back to their parent's home, which some appreciate.
“I love it,” Andrews said. “It’s basically the best of both worlds in that I can have any space that I need, then whenever I want to see my parents, I can have dinner at my folks' place or hang out at their offices and stuff. It’s really very convenient.”
Sara, who was a resident assistant in Bryan Hall on East Green last year, said she runs into her father on campus about once a month.
“It’s been nice both for her and her older sister (who also went to OU),” Jim Sand said. “I confess, as a parent, it’s been nice that they are at least in town. I get to see them once in awhile — not that they haven’t been off doing their own thing.”
Jim said he usually calls his daughter after one of his weekly meetings, and lately has been able to stop in and chat with her when she studies in Alden Library.
"People always kinda get teased for going to OU from Athens High School," Sara said. "But, I don’t know — it was the right decision for me."
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