49er Finish Program
Recognizing the importance of increasing attainment levels for nontraditional students, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) has created an office dedicated to the adult learner called the Office of Adult Students and Evening Services (OASES).
OASES is charged with recruiting both new and “stopped-out” adult learners and supporting them through to degree completion.
The office offers services and schedules unique to adults, such as evening and weekend classes and tailored scholarships. The adult students enrolled at UNCC span all types from single or working parents to retirees and mid-career professionals looking to switch careers.
To target the adults who are “part-way home” students, meaning they earned some college credit but stopped out before earning a degree, UNCC offers the 49er Finish Program focused on identifying and welcoming these potential graduates back into the educational pipeline and supporting them as they move to degree completion.
The 49er Finish program targets and supports “part-way home” students, those who earned some college credit but left before earning a degree.
This program provides students with mentors and step-by-step guidance in order to make the transition back to college and to graduation as seamless as possible. In addition to the 49er Finish Program, OASES offers a variety of other programs for adults, including an adult mentoring program and two adult honor societies.1
Introduction Part One Part Two Part Three
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Michelle Goryn is a writer and public policy consultant in Raleigh, NC.
Paige C. Worsham is Senior Policy Counsel with the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research and conducted the interviews and convenings for this project.
The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research is grateful to numerous, generous supporters. Major funding for this project is provided by the Lumina Foundation for Education, with additional funding from the James G. Hanes Memorial Fund, and the Hillsdale Fund.
- Interview with Janet Daniel, OASES Director, and Jillian Stubbs, 49er Finish Program Coordinator. ↩
