elementary children holding up certificates

GoBuck$

Ohio State Marion & Marion City & Marion County Schools

The GoBuck$ program was established in the Marion Schools in 2010 through the George and Dorothy Alber Scholarship endowment. The Go Buck$ program is a wonderful opportunity for students K – 12 to earn dollars towards a college degree at Ohio State Marion. This opportunity requires structured record keeping and communication between area schools and Ohio State Marion to enable a successful program.

Purpose:

The Go Buck$ program provides incentives for K – 12 students in our service area to reach attendance and achievement goals through elementary, middle, and high school years.

Process:

Students are provided with voucher (certificate) worth $25 in tuition at Ohio State Marion for hitting student attendance goals within each grading period. Beginning in third grade, students may also receive an additional $25 voucher (certificate) within each grading period for reaching achievement goals established by school principals. Achievement goals may be customized by the school principal (i.e. attendance, reading, math, citizenship, etc.). Schools receive a supply of vouchers each year from Ohio State Marion, and schools complete and award the vouchers to the students. Schools are required to maintain a designated spreadsheet (provided by Ohio State Marion) OR designated information (provided in your own spreadsheet) to track vouchers awarded. Schools are also required to communicate that spreadsheet to Ohio State Marion at the end of each school year.

School Agreement:

Keep accurate records of students who earn Go Buck$ vouchers on designated spreadsheet (provided by Ohio State Marion).
Send the updated spreadsheet (or all information requested) to Ohio State Marion Financial Aid Office at the end of each school year and no later than June 30^th of each year.
Update Ohio State Marion Financial Aid Office and Development/Community Relations Office of personnel changes to ensure accurate contact information is maintained for consistent program record keeping.
Provide Go Buck$ criteria to teachers to promote this opportunity for all students.
Allow opportunity for Ohio State to address students one time per year (5 to 10 minutes) during a scheduled assembly or pep rally and include Go Buck$ information in school newsletter one time per year.

School Calendar:

Beginning of the school year: allow time for a visit from Ohio State Marion to promote to students/teachers the Go Bucks program; assign spreadsheet duty to appropriate personnel

End of School Year: send accurately maintained spreadsheet of Go Buck$ certificate recipients to Ohio State Marion Financial Aid Office; allow time to celebrate students who have received Go Buck$ certificate; pep rally type celebration (or TBD as determined by school).

Go Buck$ Q & A

Question
Are the students required to submit the Go Bucks certificates to Ohio State Marion to receive Go Buck$ credit?

No, they are not. The certificates are great to award to students and serve as a visible reminder and recognition of their hard work, but they are not required to get Go Buck$ credit at Ohio State Marion.

Question
How do I get copies of the Go Buck$ certificates?

We can send you an electronic file of the certificate, and / or we can also print you a stack of them for your use. Just inform Kelly Crum or Cathy Gerber or Ashley Marsh at Ohio State of what you need.

Question
How should I be promoting Go Buck$?

At the beginning of the school year, please allow Ohio State personnel to have 5 to 10 minutes of an already scheduled teacher meeting, or a student assembly/pep rally, so that we can promote Go Buck$. In this way we are helping you to incentivize your students to reach your intended goals.

Question
Who sets the goals for Go Buck$? How does that work?

There is a two-part answer for this question.

Kindergarten through grade 2 students can be awarded $25 for each grading period for reaching attendance goals.
Beginning in 3^rd grade, students may also receive an additional $25 voucher (certificate) within each grading period for reaching achievement goals established by school principals. These goals may include attendance, academics/GPA, citizenship achievement, reading goals, math goals, etc.

Question
When one of our students attends Ohio State Marion, how do they receive Go Buck$ dollars?

Most importantly, keep accurate records at the school of which students receive Go Bucks and also keep track of what they are for (attendance, academics, etc.); be sure to include their birthday in the record keeping.

Encourage your students to mention Go Buck$ to the Financial Aid coordinator at Ohio State Marion. She can then search the spreadsheet that was provided to Ohio State Marion, and award to the students the Go Buck$ dollars they earned. This data/spreadsheet must be sent to Ohio State Marion at the end of each school year.