People across eastern Kentucky whose college dreams have been deferred have been getting a second chance to complete their educations, thanks to “Finish Up For Free,” a new initiative from the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP).

EKCEP’s Finish Up For Free – funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – has paid the tuition and school-related expenses of people like Teresa Cain of Barbourville who need 18 credit hours or less to finish an associate’s degree.

Teresa, 22, returned to Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro to finish an associate of arts degree in surgical technology with the help of Finish Up For Free. She will be the first person from her family to complete college.

Teresa is contemplative as she talks about how her mother did not get the same opportunity because she had to drop out of school at an early age to work and then raised six children.

“She’s very proud of me. She tells me all the time,” Teresa said, smiling.

Teresa’s road to college was not without challenges. She had begun working at age 16 to help support her family and continued to work two jobs when she first started college directly after high school.

When she added a marriage and a baby on the way, her schedule became too much to handle and she left school, intending to return when her daughter was older and school would be easier to manage and afford.

Last summer she got the letter about Finish Up For Free that changed her mind and brought her back to college.

To learn more about the opportunity, Teresa visited Bonnie Cain, a Workforce Investment Act (WIA) career advisor at the Barbourville office of the KCEOC Community Action Partnership. KCEOC provides Finish Up For Free and other WIA services in Knox County in partnership with EKCEP.

Bonnie told Teresa that in addition to paying for her tuition and books, Finish Up For Free could help her pay for gas, meals and other expenses that would make finishing her degree easier.

“That’s the reason I came back. It helped out a lot,” she said.

Teresa said finishing a surgical technology degree while raising a child and working as an aide at a local hospital is still challenging, but Finish Up For Free makes it easier—and she refuses to give up.

“It’s very stressful, but I’m determined,” she said.

Teresa believes she will enjoy being a surgical technician. Surgical technicians assist a surgeon during procedures by acting as the surgeon’s “right hand” and making sure the surgeon has access to all the instruments needed for the procedure.

After her daughter is older Teresa would like to go back to school and become an occupational therapist.

Teresa said she hopes that when her daughter is older she will look back at what Teresa has accomplished and follow in her footsteps. She wants her daughter to learn that “you don’t have to settle for less.”

“I want her to go to college. She can do anything she wants to if she tries hard enough,” she said.

Teresa said her husband has already followed her example and is returning to school with the hope of becoming a teacher.

Bonnie said she hopes Teresa’s example will encourage other young people in Teresa’s position to make the most of their lives.

“She really is inspiring,” Bonnie said.

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

For more information on Workforce Investment Act services available in Knox County, contact Bonnie Cain at 606-546-2639.