Bringing the Finish Line Closer
by Kimberly Parsley
In November, Western Kentucky University launched Project Graduate: Finish WKU, a program designed to help former WKU students complete their degrees. Since then, over 250 people have taken advantage of the program and four individuals will get their degrees at commencement on May 10.
Project Graduate: Finish WKU offers assistance to students who previously attended WKU and left before obtaining their degrees. The program helps returning students by coordinating the resources, degree programs and departmental support to achieve degree attainment.
Project Graduate is an initiative launched by the Council on Postsecondary Education to increase the number of college graduates in Kentucky by encouraging individuals with 90 hours or more of college credit to return to finish up their degrees. According to Mona Menking, who coordinates Project Graduate: Finish WKU, WKU’s program is going beyond the guidelines established by the C.P.E.
“We don’t turn anybody away,” she said, and explained that if someone with 60 hours of college credit contacts her, she will help that person just like she would someone with 90 hours. Included in those she assists are people who have never attended WKU, but who now live in the area. She helps them transfer their credit hours from the school they previously attended to WKU.
She said that thanks to the freedom and flexibility offered by online courses, alumni from all over the world have contacted her and are interested in finishing their degrees.
“Our role is basically to facilitate the process of coming back, reintegrating you back into the University and getting you started,” Menking said. “You just have to call one number to get your questions answered.”
Menking said the response to the program has been overwhelming and she is pleased to see so many people interested in completing their bachelor’s degrees. She said that so far response to the program has largely been due to word of mouth. Shortly, WKU will send out a mailing to the more than 2,000 people identified by the C.P.E. as being eligible for participation in the Project Graduate: Finish WKU program.
Menking said that the most popular degree is the Interdisciplinary Studies degree. Due to its popularity, people seeking enrollment in that program might have had to wait longer to get readmitted. She wants to assure individuals interested in an Interdisciplinary Studies degree that many steps have been taken since the inception of the program to speed that process along and improve response times.
“It’s very personalized attention,” Menking said. “If you call our office, you get to talk to a live person. We do all the running around campus basically for you. We do all the paperwork.”
Dr. Dean Kahler, associate vice president for Academic Affairs/Enrollment Management, said that Project Graduate: Finish WKU is an outreach initiative that can be so beneficial to former students who may have lost hope of completing college because other parts of their already busy lives had to take priority. He said that WKU is eager to make contact with those individuals and discuss new options that might not have been available when they first attended college, options that can help them complete their degrees.
“The faculty and staff at WKU have not forgotten about them and we want to partner with those students to help them earn their college degree,” Kahler said.
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