OARnet is spearheading a $12.1 million Last Mile Enhancement Program to increase broadband speeds by 1,000% at 40 Ohio colleges and universities. Supported by the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, the program enables OARnet to work with commercial “last mile” providers to upgrade connections to the OARnet backbone from 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) or less to 10 Gbps. The 40 institutions include community, technical and four-year colleges and universities, both public and private, whose networks experienced unprecedented demand after the sudden shift to remote and hybrid learning models because of COVID-19.
Participating Institutions include:
- Antioch University
- Art Academy of Cincinnati
- Belmont College
- Bluffton University
- Capital University
- Central Ohio Technical College
- Chatfield College
- Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
- Clark State College
- Cleveland Institute of Music
- Columbus College of Art and Design
- Cuyahoga Community College
- Eastern Gateway Community College
- Edison State Community College
- Franciscan University
- Hebrew Union College
- Hocking College
- Lake Erie College
- Lakeland Community College
- Lourdes University
- Malone University
- Marion Technical College
- Methodist Theological School in Ohio
- Mount St. Joseph University
- North Central State College
- Northwest State Community College
- Ohio Christian University
- Ohio Dominican University
- Owens Community College
- Rhodes State College
- Southern State Community College
- Terra State Community College
- Tiffin University
- Union Institute and University
- University of Northwestern Ohio
- University of Rio Grande/Rio Grande Community College
- Walsh University
- Washington State Community College
- Wilberforce University
- Wilmington College
- Zane State College
The GEER Funds also enabled all 87 OARnet-connected colleges and universities to double their internet subscriptions for two years, beginning January 1, 2021. The added capacity will enable more bandwidth-intensive applications and better facilitate remote instruction.
