The guest post is from Allison Barber, Chancellor, WGU Indiana. If you are not familiar with WGU Indiana’s programs, please visit www.indiana.wgu.edu to learn more about Indiana’s only fully-accredited online university.
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The New Year approaches, many of us resolve to takes steps to become healthier and to stretch our minds. We set goals we dare to achieve in the coming year. And for the 840,000 Hoosiers who have some college but no degree, why not set a goal of going back to school to finish what you started? The sense of satisfaction and pride felt by college graduates is enormous as they can say “I did it!”
For those who started college but didn’t finish, their dream for a college degree never died. Life just got in the way. We hear from them that they need individual encouragement coupled with a fresh approach compatible with their current work/life situations. Fortunately, that model exists here in Indiana to help adults overcome the barriers that kept them from earning their degree. WGU Indiana, Indiana’s eighth state university, provides one-on-one faculty mentors to help our adult students step through our nonprofit, accredited university that is competency-based and completely online.
WGU Indiana students—most of whom have full-time jobs and families—find the online option a perfect fit for their demanding schedules and education goals. As adult learners, they come to higher education with broad and diverse knowledge. They learn at their own rate. And their stretch goals are being realized with the help and encouragement of our faculty mentors.
So as we wind down 2011 and set goals for 2012, let’s encourage those who once started down the path of a college degree to complete that journey. Let’s inspire them to make the investment that will pay dividends for long after. Let’s empower them to stretch their minds and go further in 2012.
Happy New Year!
Allison Barber
Chancellor
WGU Indiana
