Somerset Community College making strides for entire state
Kernel Opinions Sig
December 9, 2018
The Lexington Herald-Leader published Monday that students through Somerset Community College will soon be able to earn bachelor’s degrees through paid partnerships with universities. This is a major breakthrough for people in rural Kentucky and for the community college community.
The new program, called the University Center of Southern Kentucky, will allow students, many of whom will be graduates of Somerset CC, to pursue a bachelor’s degree through partnering universities beginning in the 2019 fall semester. Many of these classes will be online through the partnering universities, with SCC offering classroom space for the class’s use.
In this article, the Herald-Leader explained that the partnership may include UK (though it’s not confirmed). Through these partnerships, many people who are forced to give up on college dreams after community college due to lack of resources and funding will have the opportunity to earn a four-year degree as well.
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers put it this way: Creating access to more education opportunities at home is “a key factor to ending the out-migration of our best and brightest students.”
For so long, people in the outskirts of Kentucky and America— the people in the tiny rural towns and villages— have been forced into a perpetual cycle of education deficits because there were no colleges near them, and they couldn’t afford to travel to one.
Kentucky community colleges have helped bridge this gap for years, offering many majors and a plethora of trades and technical training to students across the commonwealth for a low cost. But a two-year degree is not enough to break a cycle of poverty and lack of education. To do that, rural Kentuckians need access to four-year degrees.
Right now, only 45 percent of Kentuckians have a postsecondary degree or certificate of some kind, according to the Herald-Leader article. The Council on Postsecondary Education wants to raise that to 60 percent by 2030. This partnership with SCC might be the key to accomplishing this.
There are many details that have yet to be worked out, such as how the program will be funded and a definite list of partnering universities needs to be announced. No doubt the learning curve for those running this program might be a bit rocky, but I am confident that this move is a necessary one, and one that sets valuable precedent for our state and nation.
The Lexington Herald-Leader published Monday that students through Somerset Community College will soon be able to earn bachelor’s degrees through paid partnerships with universities. This is a major breakthrough for people in rural Kentucky and for the community college community.
The new program, called the University Center of Southern Kentucky, will allow students, many of whom will be graduates of Somerset CC, to pursue a bachelor’s degree through partnering universities beginning in the 2019 fall semester. Many of these classes will be online through the partnering universities, with SCC offering classroom space for the class’s use.
In this article, the Herald-Leader explained that the partnership may include UK (though it’s not confirmed). Through these partnerships, many people who are forced to give up on college dreams after community college due to lack of resources and funding will have the opportunity to earn a four-year degree as well.
U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers put it this way: Creating access to more education opportunities at home is “a key factor to ending the out-migration of our best and brightest students.”
For so long, people in the outskirts of Kentucky and America— the people in the tiny rural towns and villages— have been forced into a perpetual cycle of education deficits because there were no colleges near them, and they couldn’t afford to travel to one.
Kentucky community colleges have helped bridge this gap for years, offering many majors and a plethora of trades and technical training to students across the commonwealth for a low cost. But a two-year degree is not enough to break a cycle of poverty and lack of education. To do that, rural Kentuckians need access to four-year degrees.
Right now, only 45 percent of Kentuckians have a postsecondary degree or certificate of some kind, according to the Herald-Leader article. The Council on Postsecondary Education wants to raise that to 60 percent by 2030. This partnership with SCC might be the key to accomplishing this.
There are many details that have yet to be worked out, such as how the program will be funded and a definite list of partnering universities needs to be announced. No doubt the learning curve for those running this program might be a bit rocky, but I am confident that this move is a necessary one, and one that sets valuable precedent for our state and nation.