….This summer, one of the largest state universities in the country — Ohio State — is launching a new program to encourage every incoming freshman to get a U.S. passport. The program, ?Gateway to the World,? is designed to encourage the roughly 6,600 freshmen — 30 percent of whom are first-generation college students — to get used to the idea that their community is a global one.
….OSU is encouraging, but not requiring, entering students to get the passports. Part of the reason is cost. U.S. passports cost about $100, which does not include the price of required photos. Evanovich said OSU is exploring ways to help those students in need, with passports and studies abroad.
I hope that OSU figures this out sooner rather than later and that other colleges and universities across the country follow suit in starting their own passport programs.