The Community College of Vermont doesn’t want cost to be a barrier to education.
This week, CCV announced a new initiative that will provide free associate degrees to all Vermont high school graduates for the next five years.
The “Free Degree Promise” is available through CCV’s Early College Program to Vermont students currently in grades 8-11 the year after high school graduation. Members of the high school class of 2022 currently enrolled in the program are also eligible.
The effort is funded by J. Warren & Lois McClure Foundation, an affiliate of the Vermont Community Foundation, and will cover tuition and fees after any federal and state financial aid, and provide enhanced career and education advising. Students will also receive stipends to help pay for books, transportation and other associated costs.
The state’s Early College Program gives Vermont high school seniors the opportunity to complete their last year of high school and their first year of college simultaneously. In the program, students earn free college credits that also count toward graduation from high school.
The new free degree initiative builds on the Early College Program by giving students the opportunity to continue on at CCV to earn an associate degree from one of the school’s 11 associate degree programs, with the option to easily transfer to four-year programs within the Vermont State Colleges System, The University of Vermont, Champlain College or elsewhere.
Carolyn Weir, executive director of the McClure Foundation, said the initiative is a deepening of the organization’s ongoing relationship with CCV.
Weir said McClure has spent the past 15 years focused on making college more affordable and accessible for Vermont students. During the pandemic, the foundation scaled up that work, offering one free CCV course to all high school graduates of the class of 2020.
This latest effort, Weir said, is a culmination of its past work.
“Everything we’ve learned from our 15 years of doing this work and our decade-plus-long partnership with CCV has really led us to this promise,” she said.
“In a high-tuition state like Vermont, where too few young people access education after high school, we want to send a clear message that free degrees are within reach.”
Weir pointed to 2020’s free course pilot program as an example of how students will continue their education if barriers are eliminated.
More than 600 students enrolled at CCV to take advantage of the free course offering, doubling typical enrollment of recent graduates, according to Weir.
“Our experience with that graduation gift really affirms for us that cost matters,” she said.
Joyce Judy, president of CCV, noted McClure’s “deep commitment” to the educational success of Vermont students.
“They are all about access and providing opportunities for Vermonters,” she said.
Judy said the program’s five-year commitment is a way to keep the option of a college education on the table for students as young as eighth grade.
“So many people take the idea of going to college out of their conversation because they just believe they can’t afford it,” she said. “What the McClure Foundation wants to say to families is, ‘You can, and here’s a way to do it.’”
Judy noted that, according to VSAC, only between 50% and 60% of Vermont high school graduates continue their education. That rate drops to 38% for low-income students.
“That’s a hard number to be satisfied with when you look at the jobs and the requirements of jobs that are being created,” she said.
She added the program particularly benefited middle-income families who may struggle to find ways to cover the cost of their children’s education.
“(They’re) families that don’t have the discretionary income to invest in education and they’re not in a low-income bracket where there’s grants available. They’re sort of caught in the middle and, oftentimes, those are the people that have to borrow extensively,” she said.
The program is also good for Vermont businesses, she said, “Because in the end, what you hope is there’ll be more Vermonters who match up with the jobs that are here in Vermont … that they have the education that they need so Vermonters are getting those high paying good jobs.”
Alan Baird, of West Rutland, was a member of the CCV’s Early College program who continued on to get his associate degree.
Baird, 19, is graduating this spring with a degree in liberal studies. He plans to attend Castleton University in the fall to work on a bachelor’s degree, possibly in history.
He said having access to the various programs and resources offered at CCV made it possible for him to attend college.
“My bill for the entirety of my two years at CCV is only going to be less than $2,000,” he said.
jim.sabataso
@rutlandherald.com
