A new Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) initiative is helping people across eastern Kentucky whose college dreams have been deferred for financial reasons get a second chance at completing their educations.

EKCEP’s Finish Up For Free initiative — funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – is paying the tuition of people who need less than 18 credit hours to finish an associate’s degree.

One of these people is Jared Smith of Manchester, who is finally getting to pursue his dream of becoming a state trooper by finishing school for free.

Jared, 22, grew up in rural Clay County, riding horses and enjoying the outdoors. When the Kentucky State Police came to a job fair at his high school, the idea of being out on the road and helping people appealed to Jared.

After he left high school in 2005 he attempted to pursue a degree in criminal justice and police studies that he would need to become a trooper at the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) campus in Manchester. EKU is a respected law enforcement school and Jared enjoyed his classes and professors, but he soon realized he had a problem.

“I couldn’t afford it,” he said.

Jared was not eligible for financial aid and was unable to pay for college with the money he earned. He went a few semesters when he could afford to and took other semesters off, but eventually he left school and settled into a job selling power equipment in Manchester.

“It was discouraging,” Jared said.

It looked like his dream of becoming a trooper might have died.
  
This summer, however, Jared ran into a friend who told him about Finish Up For Free. Jared checked out the Finish Up For Free Web site at http://www.finishup.org and decided to give it a try.

Jared met with JoAnn Nolan at the Daniel Boone Community Action Agency, which provides Finish Up For Free and other Workforce Investment Act services in Clay and Jackson Counties in partnership with EKCEP. JoAnn had good news.

The program was able to help pay Jared’s tuition to finish school as Jared himself paid off the debt he owed from previous semesters. It also paid for his books and helped pay for other expenses like gas and lunches as he attended school, which “helped a lot.”

Jared said he loves being a student again and is looking forward to finishing soon. Posing for pictures in the computer lab at EKU he’s confident, eager and seems to know most people on the small satellite campus by name.

“I’m grateful. If I hadn’t got this help I probably wouldn’t have been able to go back to school,” Jared said, smiling.

JoAnn said the program fit so well with Jared’s needs it was like it was “just meant to be.”

“It’s a great program and I’m glad it’s available for those who need it,” JoAnn said.

EKCEP’s Finish Up For Free program is helping more than 150 other students like Jared finish their educations. For further information about EKCEP and its programs, visit www.ekcep.org.