President David McFaddin knows all about the Eastern Kentucky University experience, and not just through his current role as the institution’s president. He knows, because he saw it up close as an EKU student from Paintsville, a town deep in Kentucky’s coal mining community.
He knows the breadth of academic options, he knows the vitality of campus life, and perhaps best of all, he knows the power of a four-year degree from EKU—which he parlayed into a telecommunications career before returning to work at his alma mater.
“As a first-generation college student who came from Appalachia, being able to live out the power of a college degree and seeing what it can do to help you professionally, to position you personally for economic mobility, to allow you to pursue your passion—that’s a testimony that I feel like other students need to hear,” McFaddin says.
Indeed, the university’s president was much like the majority of other EKU students when he first arrived on campus, given that more than half of students at Eastern Kentucky University are the first in their families to attend college, or in need of financial aid. With cost top-of-mind for many of those students, it would be understandable why some might consider a two-year program out of high school. Those same students need only look at the EKU president’s office to see the difference a four-year degree at an accredited state institution like Eastern Kentucky University can make.
Students in four-year colleges and universities tend to make higher salaries than their counterparts in two-year programs. They have better odds of graduating, and they have a wider breadth of academic options available to them. They tend to have more varied financial aid options, and they benefit from the arts, recreation, dining, student success and healthcare elements that all combine to make up campus life.
“When we think about that college experience, there's what you learn in the classroom, which is very structured and overseen by the great faculty that we have here on our campus. But the other part, the exceptional experiences you have out of the classrooms, is where I think you grow into being the person that you want to be,” McFaddin says. “You begin to understand who you are and what you believe in, and that prepares you to go out and be a productive member of our society.”
From Education to Fire Science
Cost is without question the number one issue that families and prospective students have to consider when charting a path for higher education, and it’s also a fact that has always been prioritized at EKU. “Access and affordability are front of mind for us institutionally,” McFaddin said.
Eastern Kentucky University has made it easier for families to afford a four-year degree by implementing a host of enhancements—such as reconfiguring its scholarship model to make more scholarship funds available to more students, eliminating a standardized test score requirement for most scholarship levels, waiving application fees and lowering the out-of-state rate.
Also helping to lower costs is EKU’s wildly popular BookSmart program, in which undergraduate students receive required books and course materials at no cost—a potential savings of around $1,250 per academic year. EKU distributed more than 15,000 “Big E Boxes” full of books and course materials for the fall 2022 semester.
“Those students who had been paying for textbooks, and now are not paying for textbooks, are among the most grateful students you will find,” McFaddin said. “It’s really about retention and helping students persist and graduate and not having textbooks stand in the way. We were having students choose their majors based on the cost of textbooks. We just felt like, if we were going to be the School of Opportunity, we want to make sure the opportunity is wide open to do whatever it is you want to do. And that's why BookSmart is something we're proud to fund and support with institutional dollars.”
EKU also carries another benefit of a four-year college: an expansive scope of fields of study, which lead in turn to greater choice in potential career paths. The programs with the highest enrollment at EKU include Psychology, Criminal Justice, Occupational Safety, Nursing, Education and Business. But academic offerings at Eastern Kentucky University also include Aviation, Fire Science, Construction Management, Homeland Security and Computer Science. EKU offers over 100 different degree programs in total, a far greater selection than at many two-year schools, where offerings are primarily in the technical or public service sector.
“When we look at the economy of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we must make sure that we have people who fit in all the places where we want to grow. And I think that students who are graduating from high school and maybe get a certificate of some sort, there's a place for that. Community colleges and two-year institutions are great partners for us, and we're proud to be their top transfer partner. But absolutely, there are many students who want to pursue careers that require a four-year degree, and those careers are a big part of our economy,” McFaddin says.
“Here at EKU, we have some very niche things that we're very proud of like our Aviation program, which is the only four-year Aviation program in the state of Kentucky. We look at our Forensic Science program, one of just 16 such programs across the nation. Our Professional Golf Management program is one of 15 across the nation, and our Risk Management and Insurance program was ranked No. 1 in the nation this year by Best’s Review. So, I think when we look at what it is that a student wants to do, there is a place at EKU to find those credentials and to find those experiences.”
Stark difference in salaries
When it comes to the difference between a four-year institution and a high school diploma, over a lifetime, the median earnings of a Kentucky bachelor’s degree graduate are $1 million more than a high school graduate, while median
earnings for associate degree graduates are nearly $400,000 more, the difference is evident in the numbers.
That difference can be even more stark in Kentucky, where well-paying careers often require a four-year degree. According to the Kentucky Center for Statistics, occupations with mean annual salaries that rank high in the Commonwealth are computer and information system manager ($120,653), nurse practitioner ($101,519), financial manager ($98,747), chemical engineer ($96,692), commercial pilot ($90,753) and education administrator ($83,951).
Jobs requiring a two-year degree or certificate typically pay far less, as is the case with hairdresser and cosmetologists ($25,193), home health aides ($25,617), phlebotomists ($32,369) and correctional officers ($33,262).
Students can use one experience to build on the other, given that EKU accepts all transfer credits from Kentucky’s technical and community college system. EKU’s “2+2” program allows students with two years of college at another institution to complete their undergraduate requirements at Eastern Kentucky University.
“This is a place where you can come in and build your own identity. It's a place where you can get just about any degree program that you can imagine. Whatever it is you want to do, we've got a degree that's probably going to help you do that,” McFaddin says. “This isn’t a place where we say, ‘Look to the left and look to the right, and one of those people is not going to be here when we get to the end of the race.’ We say, ‘Look to the left and look to the right, and we're all going to lock arms and get there together.’”
Interested in learning more about what a four-year degree from Eastern Kentucky University can do for you? Contact EKU by phone at (800)-465-9191, visit the campus in Richmond, or visit the website at EKU.edu for further information.
