Project Graduate is a student recruitment program designed to bring Kentuckians with 90 or more college credit hours

Carnegie Unit and Student Hour

The Carnegie Unit and the Student Hour are strictly time-based references for measuring educational attainment used by American universities and colleges; the Carnegie Unit assesses secondary school attainment, and the Student Hour, derived from the Carnegie Unit, assesses collegiate...

 but no bachelor's degree back to college to finish their degree. It is a collaborative effort between the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education coordinates change and improvement in Kentucky’s postsecondary education system as directed by the...

 (CPE

CPE

-Biochemistry:* Carboxypeptidase E* Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin* Cytopathic effect* Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-Telecommunications:...

), Kentucky's public universities

Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...

 and the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities.

The Goal

As charged by the Kentucky Postsecondary Education Act of 1997 (HB1), the CPE

CPE

-Biochemistry:* Carboxypeptidase E* Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin* Cytopathic effect* Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-Telecommunications:...

 leads efforts to increase the education attainment of Kentucky citizens to at least the national average by 2020. In alignment with HB 1, the Council released the “Double the Numbers Plan” in October 2007, calling for the state to double the number of Kentuckians with at least a bachelor’s degree by 2020. One of the key strategies of the Double the Numbers plan is to increase the number of working-age adults going to and completing college. The Council’s 2020 statewide target is to increase the percent of adults in college from 3.6 percent to 4.5 percent.

The Problem

According to the 2000 U.S. Census

United States Census

The United States Census is a decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution. The population is enumerated every 10 years and the results are used to allocate Congressional seats , electoral votes, and government program funding. The United States Census Bureau The United States Census...

, more than 500,000 Kentuckians have some college and no degree. State data analyzed by the CPE show more than 300,000 Kentucky adults between the ages of 25 and 50 have some college credit from a Kentucky public institution, but no degree. A closer look revealed 233,000 of them were between the ages of 25 and 40. Even more compelling, more than 11,000 of those former students have earned 90 or more credit hours.

The Response

In May 2007, CPE staff convened a marketing work group to target the 11,000 adults with 90 or more credit hours to return to college to finish their degree. The workgroup was composed of public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 officers, enrollment managers, continuing education

Continuing education

Continuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...

 staff and/or student affairs

Student Affairs

Student affairs staff provide services and support for students at institutions of higher education to enhance student growth and development in the United States and abroad....

 representatives from each partner institution.

The highly targeted outreach effort, a part of the Council’s college access outreach campaign, was named Project Graduate. Participating universities developed campus action plans to provide a high-touch experience for their returning adult students. Each plan details the incentives and special services offered by the institution and identifies a campus response team to ensure those who respond and qualify can take advantage of incentives and quickly navigate the admissions process.

The CPE developed a strong brand identity

Brand

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

 for Project Graduate, a customizable direct-mail campaign (postcards and a letter signed by the president) and a Project Graduate Web site that identified participating institutions, their incentives and their contact person. The Council publicly launched Project Graduate in November 2007 as a collaborative outreach effort with the institutions. Each institution initiated its own outreach efforts in spring 2008 using the customizable marketing products.

As of October 2008, Project Graduate teams at Kentucky’s public universities have helped at least 49 adults earn their bachelor’s degrees and 460 have returned to college and enrolled in classes. The Council is continuing to work with the Project Graduate team to support their efforts. A marketing communications

Marketing communications

Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...

 plan is under development to step up outreach to this target audience

Target audience

In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed .....

 and to identify strategies to reach out to the larger adult learner

Adult learner

Adult learner or mature learner is a term used to describe any person socially accepted as an adult who is in a learning process, whether it is formal education, informal learning, or corporate-sponsored learning.Adult learners are considered distinct from child learners due...

 market in Kentucky.

The Partners

Kentucky colleges and universities participating in Project Graduate include:

Public Colleges and Universities:

• Eastern Kentucky University
  Eastern Kentucky University
  Eastern Kentucky University, commonly referred to as Eastern or by the acronym EKU by local residents, is an undergraduate and graduate teaching and research institution located in Richmond, Kentucky, U.S.A.. EKU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...
  
  
• Kentucky State University
  Kentucky State University
  Kentucky State University is a four-year institution of higher learning, located in Frankfort, Kentucky, United States, the Commonwealth's capital. The school is an historically black university, which desegregated in 1954...
  
  
• Kentucky Community and Technical College System
  Kentucky Community and Technical College System
  Headquartered in Versailles, Kentucky, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System comprises 16 colleges with over 68 campuses. Programs offered include associate degrees, pre-baccalaureate education to transfer to a public 4-year institution; adult education, continuing and developmental...
  
  
• Morehead State University
  Morehead State University
  Morehead State University is a public, co-educational university located in Morehead, Kentucky, United States in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, midway between Lexington, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia. The 2012 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S...
  
  
• Murray State University
  Murray State University
  Murray State University, located in the city of Murray, Kentucky, is a four-year public university with approximately 10,400 students. The school is Kentucky’s only public university to be listed in the U.S.News & World Report regional university top tier for the past 20 consecutive years...
  
  
• Northern Kentucky University
• University of Kentucky
• University of Louisville
• Western Kentucky University
  Western Kentucky University
  Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....
  
  

Independent Colleges and Universities:

• Asbury College
  Asbury College
  Asbury University, formerly Asbury College, is a Christian liberal arts institution located in Wilmore, Kentucky. Although it is a nondenominational school, the college's foundation stems from a Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. The school offers 50 majors across 17 departments. Primarily a four-year...
  
  
• Brescia University
  Brescia University
  Brescia University is a coeducational Catholic university located in Owensboro, Kentucky, in the United States. It was founded in 1950 by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph as Brescia College. It attained university status in 1998 with the addition of Master's degree programs in...
  
  
• Bellarmine College
  Bellarmine University
  Bellarmine University is an independent, private, Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. The liberal arts institution opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named after the Cardinal Saint Robert...
  
  
• Campbellsville University
  Campbellsville University
  Campbellsville University, also known as CU, is a private university in Campbellsville, Kentucky, the seat of Taylor County. Founded as Russell Creek Academy, a Baptist institution, the university currently enrolls more than 3,000 students and is open to students of all denominations...
  
  
• Lindsey Wilson College
  Lindsey Wilson College
  Lindsey Wilson College is a private four-year college affiliated with the United Methodist Church in an open ecumenical atmosphere. The 45 acre campus is located in Columbia, Kentucky. The school currently offers associate degrees in 11 areas of study, bachelor degrees in 20 areas of study and...
  
  
• Midway College
• St. Catharine College
• Spalding University
  Spalding University
  Spalding University is a private, co-educational university affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and located in Louisville, Kentucky.-History:...
  
  
• Union College
• University of the Cumberlands
  University of the Cumberlands
  University of the Cumberlands is a private, liberal arts college located in Williamsburg, Kentucky, with an enrollment of approximately 3,200 students...
  
  

The Research: Survey of Kentucky Adults with Some College

While Project Graduate was being planned, the Council contracted with a national higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 research and marketing firm to conduct a statistically valid telephone survey of the broader audience—the 233,000 Kentuckians with some college. The survey sought to identify market segment

Market segment

Market segmentation is a concept in economics and marketing. A market segment is a sub-set of a market made up of people or organizations with one or more characteristics that cause them to demand similar product and/or services based on qualities of those products such as price or function...

s of Kentucky adults with some college credit but no bachelor’s degree who could be motivated or receptive to incentives to re-enroll in college.
The survey included 1,610 Kentucky adults with some college equally distributed in four regions across the state. Research findings will inform the development of an integrated marketing plan

Marketing plan

A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan.Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use....

 for the broader audience of adult learners, as well as further discussion on practices, programs and policies that will meet the unique needs of Kentucky’s adult learners.

Kentucky Adult Learner Initiative

Building upon the research findings of the 2007 study of adults with some college, the Council launched the Kentucky Adult Learner Initiative to develop recommendations on practices, programs and policies to meet the unique needs of adult learners in postsecondary education. Funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education

Lumina Foundation for Education

Lumina Foundation for Education is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Its mission is to expand student access to and success in education beyond high school...

, the initiative kicked off with a Kentucky Adult Learner Initiative Summit in February 2008 and a statewide advisory board was formed to address the needs of the adult learner. Three work groups are convening throughout 2008 to develop recommendations to bring back to the advisory board in three areas: credit for prior learning, financial aid for adult learners, and flexible delivery of academic programs to increase adult learner access. Recommendations are expected to be finalized by December 2008.