Some of the people who are getting chance to finish college because of a new initiative from the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) are returning to school after only a brief break. Others, like Joelle Amburgey, are completing a college dream that was delayed quite a bit longer.

Joelle, 43, of Mallie, finished the coursework needed to complete an associate’s degree in general occupational/technical studies at the Hindman campus of Hazard Community and Technical College (HCTC) last fall with financial help from EKCEP’s Finish Up For Free initiative.

EKCEP’s Finish Up For Free initiative pays tuition and other related expenses for people who left college needing less than 18 credit hours to finish an associate’s degree.

More than 150 eastern Kentuckians are getting a second chance at completing their educations thanks to the initiative, which is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Joelle’s pursuit of a college degree was interrupted by periods of work, by her decision to be a stay-at-home mother for several years, and by an extended family illness. As a result, one of the classes she took last fall to finish her degree was also being taken by her son, who had just started college.

“I got his help with the homework,” Joelle said, smiling.

After high school, Joelle had married and worked at a variety of jobs. She took some nursing classes, then switched to study cosmetology. She worked as a cosmetologist for three years before she “got burned out” and decided to devote the next 10 years to being a stay-at-home mom.

In 2003, three years after her last child was born, Joelle decided in to return to college with an eye toward a new career. She studied phlebotomy at HCTC and “loved it.”

Unfortunately, before she was able to obtain her degree, her husband was in an accident and nearly lost a leg. Doctors were able to reattach the limb, but Joelle had to take on the full-time responsibility of caring for her husband as he recovered and adjusted and that left no time for school.

Joelle had been working in the pharmacy at East Kentucky Health Services Center in Hindman for a couple of years and hadn’t given much recent thought to her abandoned associate’s degree when she got a letter in the mail telling her about the opportunity provided by Finish Up For Free.

Intrigued, Joelle talked to Maggie Hall, a career adviser for L.K.L.P. Community Action Program, which provides Workforce Investment Act services like Finish Up For Free in Leslie, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties under contract with EKCEP. Maggie explained that Finish Up For Free could pay for tuition, books, childcare, and other related expenses for students who returned to finish their degrees.

Today, Joelle says she doesn’t think she would have finished her degree without the help Finish Up for Free provided.

“I’m glad they have programs like this,” Joelle said.

Joelle’s family was supportive of return to school and proud that she finished her degree.

Maggie said she was impressed with the determination Joelle showed to become a college graduate.

“She’s a person who probably would be successful in anything she attempted to do,” Maggie said.

Having a degree opens up a new level of income and career possibilities for Joelle, but she said it also simply makes her feel good to have finally finished the degree and to have the satisfaction of being able to say, “I am a college graduate.”

“It’s something for me,” Joelle said, as a warm smile crossed her lips.