Read more union free college success stories on pages of 12-13 of the OCSEA magazine at OCSEA.org/PEQ.
If it weren’t for the OCSEA
Free College program,
college probably wouldn’t
have been possible says Latishia
Freeze, an Administrative
Assistant 1 in the Ohio Dept. of
Rehabilitation and Corrections’
education department. “I’m in a
lower classification and a mom of
three. If I would have had to pay
for it up front, I don’t know if I’d
have been able to do it,” she says.
She says the fact that Union
Free College has no out-ofpocket costs was everything to
her and her family and made it
possible to afford going back to
school. “It’s such an appealing
benefit. I mean, no employers
pay upfront for education costs.
But the union program does. I’ve
never had to pay out of pocket or
deal with the hassle of reimbursement,” said Latishia.
Now three semesters into
her Business Administration
bachelor’s degree with Central
State University, one of OCSEA’s
partners in free college, she can’t
believe how far she’s come. “My
goal was always to get my bachelor’s degree,” she said.
Latishia has worked in the
Ohio Central School System
(OCSS) for six years. This is the
school district operating within
the ODRC to provide educational programs for prisoners
to take adult education courses,
earn Ohio certificates of high
school equivalence, or pursue
vocational training.
Latishia began her free college
journey with Eastern Gateway
several years ago, earning her
associate degree, also in Business
Administration.
“I focused on business because
it covers so many areas and keeps
my options open. Ultimately, I
want to continue working for the
State, in DR&C education.
My passion is this education
program,” she said.
Latishia says that the resources
of the free college program are
amazing: “What’s great about it
is that all of my books are online
and they’re free. They formulate
the chapters; you go through it
and it’s easy. Eastern Gateway
was amazing.” She also says
the flexibility of the program is
perfect. “I can do my work at
10 p.m. if I have to, when it’s
good for me and the kids are in
bed,” said Latishia, a mom of
3-, 5- and 12-year-old children.
“Another good thing is that you
get a group of assignments, and
you have a week to do them,
on whatever days work for you.
Mondays are typically bad, and
we have a lot of sports, so the
flexibility is great,” she said.
Latashia is hoping to graduate
in the summer of 2022 if things
go as planned. She hopes she’ll
be able to attend graduation in
person. She is also hoping to
convince her husband to take a
chance on going back to school.
She says she’s still working on
that.