Higher education for some Ohio and Kentucky college students will be less costly, thanks to an agreement set to begin early next year.

A news conference will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Mains Rotunda at Ohio University Southern to announce a partnership agreement between the Ohio Board of Regents and the 2003 Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the Kentucky/Ohio Tuition Reciprocity Agreement (TRA).

The TRA is designed to expand postsecondary education opportunities in southeastern Ohio and northeastern Kentucky. The program also aims to limit the cost of

expansion to the taxpayers by collaborating with public institutions of higher education. In addition to OUS, Shawnee State University and the University of Rio Grande in Ohio and Morehead State-Ashland Campus, Ashland Community College and Ashland Technical College in Kentucky have agreed to participate.

The agreement will last from Jan. 1, 2003 to June 30, 2003 and may be renewed for an additional two years if all parties involved consent before the end of the agreement.

During the period of this agreement, the Ohio Board of Regents will consider residents of Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Greenup, Lawrence, Lewis and Mason counties in Kentucky who attend OUS, Rio Grande and Shawnee State as qualifying for resident Ohio tuition and as Ohio residents for the purpose of allocating funds to the three institutions. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education will consider residents of Adams, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike and Scioto counties in Ohio who attend ACC,

ATC and MSU-Ashland as qualifying for resident Kentucky tuition.

Jack Connell, of the Ohio Board of Regents' Academic Programs Private Institutions/Tuition Reciprocity division, said tuition reciprocity agreements help provide educational access opportunities to individuals living in border areas.

"The agreements recognize that regional areas are often times divided by an arbitrary state border, and that a border may actually

eliminate or deter educational opportunities to residents of a region due to out of state surcharges," Connell said.

"Therefore, the agreements attempt to validate the regional aspects of an identified border area and eliminate as many deterrents to educational access as possible."

Connell said the goal of all tuition reciprocity agreements is to achieve a rough parity in terms of the student exchange for all participants in an agreement -- the

institutions, the state agencies and the taxpayers of both states.

"We want to make sure that taxpayer subsidy for reciprocity eligible students is roughly balanced on both sides of the border," he said. "Historically, we feel that the outcomes of tuition reciprocity agreements have been extraordinarily successful in providing access to education and in helping individuals achieve their educational goals. And, we believe that this new agreement will do the same."