Positive results — 11/03/09 » Editorials » Daily Independent (Ashland, KY)

Editorials

Discussion

November 2, 2009

Positive results — 11/03/09

Project Graduation is getting former students to re-enroll

Anonymous The Daily Independent Mon Nov 02, 2009, 03:07 PM EST

Since it was initiated in January of 2008, Project Graduation — a collaborative effort between the Council on Postsecondary Education and the state’s universities — has encouraged 203 former students to return to college and earn their four-year degrees.

While to some that may not seem like many students, any program that encourages state residents to earn their college degrees must be applauded in a state that has among the nation’s lowest percentage of adults with college degrees. Because these former students already are more than halfway toward earning a bachelor’s degree, they should be among the most successful students colleges recruit.

Bob King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, said the state universities offer incentives to encourage adults to re-enroll and then offer services to help them be successful once they return to college.

According to campus data collected by the Council on Postsecondary Education, Project Graduation during the spring semester enrolled 401 students who took a total of 2,609 credit hours and generated $730,000 in tuition revenue. During the past summer term, the campuses admitted 211 students who were taking 798 credit hours and generating $299,088 in tuition revenue.

Ten of Kentucky’s private colleges also participate in Project Graduation, but their enrollment numbers are not available.

“We are delighted that our campuses are paving the way for adult learners to return to college to complete their degrees,” said King. “It’s incredibly important to the adults, their families and children, and the state’s economic competitiveness.”

While the additional tuition revenue Project Graduation has helped generate for individual universities is important at a time when state money for higher education is extremely tight, the tuition income should be considered only an added benefit of the program. The greatest benefit is getting more college graduates in a state that critically needs to improve the education level of its adult population.

Our hope is that far more former college students will take advantage of Project Graduation to return to school and earn their degrees.

Text Only

Editorials

Earmarks again?
Immediately, following the midterm elections of 2010 which saw Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives and capture seats in the U.S. Senate, Republican leaders in Congress announced they had heard the voice of the voters and vowed to cease using “earmarks,” the name given to appropriations slipped into bills by influential legislators without a vote.

May 26, 2012
Best in the nation
It may surprise many readers that Newsweek’s “best high school in America” is located right here in Kentucky and is open to selected students throughout the state, but then the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green is hardly your typical high school. In fact, it would be impossible for even the best public high schools to emulate the amazing success of students at the Gatton Academy.

May 25, 2012
After the vote
We offer today a few reflections on the messages voters sent in Tuesday’s primary election in Kentucky.

May 24, 2012
A mild winter
As we approach the Memorial Day weekend, long hailed as the unofficial start of the summer vacation season, we pause to reflect upon the winter that wasn’t.

May 23, 2012
Devices banned
Emergency breathing devices that tests have proven unreliable are being phased out under a directive issued by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. However, MSHA has given mine operators more than 18 months to remove all the air packs from underground mines.

May 22, 2012
A free weekend
In an effort to promote increased recreational use of the two lakes in the Daniel Boone National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service will offer free fishing and boating during the first weekend in June.

May 22, 2012
Ho-hum election
Psst! Want to know a secret? There’s a primary election Tuesday. And it’s right here in Kentucky! However, there has been so little interest in this election, that Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the state’s top election official, is predicting that only betwixen 10 and 12 percent of the state’s eligible voters will take the time to go to the polls tomorrow.

May 21, 2012
A real rush job
By giving first reading approval to two identical ordinances creating the Northeast Regional Jail Authority, elected leaders in Boyd and Carter counties are reviving a 30-year-old political issue — only this time with different results.

May 20, 2012
KCTC leads way
The ability of Kentucky to compete with other states and the rest of the world for the good jobs of tomorrow keeps improving by degrees.

May 19, 2012
Slow decline?
Louisville’s Churchill Downs is seeing its shortest spring meets since 1975, and some owners, trainers and breeders fear they could get even shorter. That is unless the Kentucky General Assembly has a change of heart and gives the home of the Kentucky Derby the option of increasing its nonracing revenue by offering new forms of gambling.

May 18, 2012
More Editorials Headlines

Editorials

Search Results

Discussion

Positive results — 11/03/09

Project Graduation is getting former students to re-enroll

Site Map

Contact Us