ASHLAND — Three area women spoke last week about a program that revived their dormant college careers.

Denise Yanik has completed the program and is pursuing a master’s degree.

Carol Cox is looking forward to ticking an item off her bucket list.

And Cindy Black simply sees an open door.

“I’m hoping for bigger and better things,” said Black, who is about to earn her bachelor’s degree at 48.

She feels like she has been going to college all her life — Morehead State University for a while after high school, Ashland Community and Technical College after being laid off from AK Steel — and in doing so got within seven credit hours of earning her sheepskin.

Unfortunately, her jumble of credits didn’t leave her a clear path to graduation. And with a full-time job to contend with — Black works at the office of the veterans’ cemetery near EastPark — she was unsure of her ability to blend work and school.

That’s where Project Graduate came in. It is a statewide program offered through all of Kentucky’s public universities. Adults with at least 80 credit hours can go back to school with support services that help them graduate.

There are incentives, some of them financial, which vary by the university. At Morehead State, incentives include an application fee waiver, individual advising, career counseling and study skill support, priority enrollment, quick admissions process and tuition assistance.

But most important, program staffers smooth the way to a degree for adults who may have been out of school for decades, said non-traditional and commuter student coordinator Jill McBride.

Many come back with a hodge-podge of credits, some for courses that have changed in the intervening years. Program counselors often are able to advise transfering the credits into a bachelor of university studies degree path, which can be completed online, she said.

That is what Cox is doing. She is 57 and is within 15 credit hours of her degree. Earlier in life, she had intended to get her degree in business adminstration with management emphasis. But requirements for that degree changed and some of her credits wouldn’t have counted. “Jill made it easy to get back in and now I will get the degree in university studies,” she said. That included assisting her in setting up an account so she could conduct all her college business online, and giving her guidance on admissions and course requirements.

“From the time I contacted Jill until I registered was a week,” she said. She anticipates an autumn graduation.

Cox, who works for an engineering consultant and spends time with her family and grandchildren, doesn’t see her degree as a career move. But that doesn’t make it any less important to her. “I’d been thinking about this for a long time,” she said.

With proper guidance, returning students have an excellent chance for a successful academic career, McBride said. “Non-traditional students tend to be more motivated and focused, so it can be easier than they expected. They often go on to seek their masters’ degrees,” she said.

That is what Denise Yanik is doing. A single mother and secretary at Wildwood Church of God, she left college one and a half years after high school even though she had a scholarship.

Over the years she returned a few credits at a time. While helping her daughter prepare for her freshman year, she refreshed her own interest and they started college at the same time.

She completed her degree in December and now is studying for a master’s degree in adult and higher education. She would like to work at the community college level, perhaps in counseling.

The fee waivers helped, but as a non-traditional student, Yanik needed counseling and encouragement more. “Jill was there for any question,” she said.

The program will be instrumental if Kentucky is to reach its goal of increasing the number of bachelor’s degrees in the region, said Dan Connell, assistant vice president of adult education and college access.

Adults who are within a few credits of a degree typically are eager and motivated, he said.

Meeting the degree goal will pay off in quality of life and economic development issues, he said. Degree holders can get better jobs and make more money; companies like to locate where there is a good pool of educated workers.

Since the program was launched, 605 former students have completed degrees, and another 651 were enrolled in fall 2011.

More information about the program is available on the web at http://www.knowhow2goky.org/pg/index.php.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.