ASU-Newport Student Beats the Odds to Complete High School and Find Success

April Riegert, ASU-Newport Student

April Riegert has overcome many obstacles in her life already, such as being on her own since the age of 16.  While a senior in high school, April was selected to represent Arkansas State University-Newport (ASUN) as a student Ambassador.  As an Ambassador, April received a scholarship of $1,000 per semester and was a leader on campus and in the community representing ASUN. 

April grew from this experience to become a strong, confident student.  She is active in the Student Government Association and was inducted in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, serving as its secretary in 2009-10.  April has accomplished so much, working part-time to support herself, volunteering for the Big Brother-Big Sister Organization and still maintaining a 4.0 grade point average.

Through April’s campus and community involvement and her excellent grade point average, she was a clear choice as the 2010 AATYC Academic All-Star. While April would have most likely qualified for transfer scholarships, her selection as the Academic All-Star expands her options and provides her with the needed financial assistance to complete her baccalaureate degree. 

April said that she never thought she would make it this far with her education.  Now she knows she has the academic ability and financial support to reach her goals.  April plans to become a school teacher who cares about her students’ education the way so many teachers have cared about hers… all this from someone who didn’t believe she had a chance to graduate from high school.

Financial Aid Applications Still Being Processed by ADHE, Personnel Hampered by Volume That Tops 125,000

Prospective college students around the state await word on the status of scholarship applications that were submitted to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE). Since June 1, ADHE has received thousands of phone calls from students wanting to know their status, which is something ADHE personnel are working on continuously.

“I think it is obvious that the initial projections for the number of students who would apply were under the actual number that we have received,” said Dr. Jim Purcell, ADHE director. “Our staff is working diligently to notify all students of their award status but we have a convergence of events that are hampering this effort.”

Dr. Purcell cited the volume of applications being processed – 55,551 for the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship (lottery scholarship) alone – with a shortage of qualified personnel to deal with the volume as the primary factors causing delays in processing, coupled with the volume of phone calls agency personnel are attempting to answer.

“We have temporarily reassigned personnel to assist but the volume of phone calls we receive is creating a challenge to our goal of notifying all students by the end of July,” he said. “We understand the concerns of these students and we cannot be unresponsive, but our financial aid staff is literally in a position where they can either answer the telephones or they can process applications, but they cannot do both.”  ADHE has also hired extra-help workers to help process applications.

Two factors have contributed to the backlog: the new YOUniversal Scholarship Application which made it easier for students to identify programs they may qualify for and new legislation that opened up the Academic Challenge Scholarship (lottery scholarship) to more Arkansans. Last year, ADHE received 23,105 scholarship applications. This year, the department received 125,170 applications.

Before determining eligibility, paper transcripts and other records must be manually matched up to students’ applications. Once all eligible students are identified, if the funding is less than the demand for scholarships, student awards will be prioritized through a formula established in legislation.

Students who applied for financial aid with ADHE created an account online through which staff communicates the need for additional paperwork and sends award notifications. Students are encouraged to utilize their accounts and will be notified through their account and email address of their award status once it is known.

To better assist students and to help lower the volume of phone calls to financial aid personnel, ADHE has posted a copy of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) on its website. Dr. Purcell said the posted questions represent more than 80 percent of the call volume from students seeking information.

CLICK HERE for the Arkansas Academic Challenge (lottery scholarship) FAQs.

CLICK HERE for more information on the Arkansas Academic Challenge (lottery scholarship).

Southeast Arkansas College Develops Fast Track Allied Health Developmental Education Program

Southeast Arkansas College in Pine Bluff has developed and implemented a Fast Track Allied Health Developmental Education program.  The Fast Track curriculum provides instruction in the basic skills of math, reading and writing in at least one-half the standard delivery time.

Students in the program complete in one semester what typically takes two (2) and most times three (3) semesters with traditional developmental education. Fast Track completion rates are 95%, compared to 50%-60% for traditional developmental education.

The Fast Track and Interdisciplinary Practical Nursing Track (IPNT) programs brought institutional change to the SEARK College campus, the biggest change being that the Arkansas State Board of Nursing approved the Contextualized Developmental Education and the IPNT curriculum as a successful and streamlined model for delivering the traditional Practical Nursing program.  Additionally, SEARK College has developed contextualized curriculum for the Early Childhood and Elementary Education programs.

With the nursing program condensed, tuition costs decreased and students are able to more rapidly enter the workforce and earn high wages in a high demand field.  This project was made possible with funding received from Jobs for the Future.

During the delivery of the Fast Track program the College found that many students faced barriers that could potentially threaten their ability to continue their education and become employed. Faculty and staff determined the best way to combat these challenges was to develop a Student Retention Center that offers a broad range of services as well as in depth academic counseling in a comprehensive collaborative overall student services effort. This project was made possible with funding received from Casey and Winthrop Rockefeller Foundations.  

Metro Little Rock Alliance Partners With Region’s Two-Year College Consortium to Meet Workforce Needs

To strengthen the workforce of the central Arkansas region, the Board of Directors of the eleven-county Metro Little Rock Alliance (MLRA) voted to partner with the recently formed Central Arkansas Consortium of Two-Year Colleges. The mission of both groups is to foster economic development in central Arkansas.

The partnership was approved Thursday, June 24th, by a vote of the MLRA board.

In March, six two-year colleges in central Arkansas signed a collaborative agreement to form the Central Arkansas Consortium of Two-Year Colleges.  The Consortium is composed of Arkansas State University Beebe (ASUB), National Park Community College (NPCC), Ouachita Technical College (OTC), Pulaski Technical College (PTC), Southeast Arkansas College (SEARK), and University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton (UACCM).

“The two-year colleges have a long history of responding to the workforce needs of the region’s employers,” said Eddie Black, chairman of the Metro Little Rock Alliance. “This consortium will allow the region’s institutions to share resources, curriculum and funding to further enhance the region’s competitiveness.”

“We are pleased to announce the new Central Arkansas Two-Year College Consortium,” says Dr. Ed Franklin, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges. “We expect that this consortium, together with the Metro Little Rock Alliance, will have a positive impact on economic development for this region. This is the final piece of a statewide plan to develop two-year college consortia for each region of Arkansas to erase city and county lines and work together for the economic benefit of the state.”

The three purposes of the consortium are: 1) to combine the resources and expertise of the six colleges to better meet workforce, industry training and economic development needs of the region; 2) to allow the Consortium members to address the training and economic development needs of an expansive region that includes over one-third of the entire state’s workforce and is geographically much bigger than the official service area of any one college; and 3) to jointly pursue grants and other funding opportunities to address workforce development needs of central Arkansas.