More than 36 million Americans have attended college but have not finished their intended degree, creating a completion crisis with massive implications for social and economic mobility. Since workers without degrees are often the most likely to lose their jobs during economic downturns — and the last to be hired in an upswing — college completion is likely to have an outsized employment impact during the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Making matters worse is the reality that for many students with some college and no degree, their original institution is no longer a fit, often due to a host of reasons including geography and program offerings. To address this challenge, a new first-of-its-kind initiative, known as the ReUp Network, will enable students to complete their degree from one of 300 academic programs at more than a dozen partner institutions — regardless of where they began their college studies.
This conversation will bring together institutional leaders and analysts to discuss the role of the Network model in helping stopout students navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic.
The webinar is presented by:
A teacher once told Stephanie, “If you do not learn something new every day, you’ve wasted your day.” Stephanie took this to heart and pushes herself every day to challenge the way she thinks and how she interprets the world. But this wasn’t always the case.
It took me eight years to finish my undergraduate degree. Three different schools, two states, two kids, one marriage, and multiple degree changes later, I finally had my degree. I was one of those people who “life” happened to throughout my undergraduate experience. I never planned it to be that way, which makes my academic journey so fitting for a person like me.
My college journey is atypical. It started off when I was living in Memphis. I had applied and been accepted to several universities. I was offered an academic scholarship to Rhodes College, but I turned it down because they were a D III football program and I thought I could get better offers. (Ha. Youth.) But because I waited so long to accept any offers, there was no money for me to go to school.
When I coach students, one of the main things I focus on is their ‘why,’ or their motivation behind finishing their degree. I do this because in my own experience, my ‘why’ was what kept me going from an early age toward my goal of being the first person in my family to graduate from college. My ‘why’ was my older brother Jeffy.