Angie Geron is the mother of two and a full-time employee of Western Kentucky University. She is also slated to graduate from WKU in August through Project Graduate: WKU Finish.

WKU Finish, the university’s version of the statewide initiative coordinated by the Council on Postsecondary Education, has seen growing interest since its inception in November. The program targets former students who have earned 90 or more credit hours of undergraduate work without completing a bachelor’s degree.

Geron was one of those students.

“I’ve always wanted to finish my degree, but I thought I had to file a new degree program, which would have given me about 12 more hours of credits that I would have needed to complete my degree,” she said. “By working with (Mona Menking, WKU Finish coordinator), I found I only needed six hours to finish my degree. I’m elated ... I feel this is a great accomplishment.”

Since the implementation of the program, the university has had 550 inquiries from students interested in returning to finish their degrees. And since January, 76 students had enrolled, with seven graduating in the spring semester and five slated to graduate this summer.

“In the short amount of time that we’ve been doing this, that’s great,” Menking said. “For this to be such a new program, that is a good number.”

The university is anticipating 10 students will graduate in the fall, Menking said.

The CPE launched a statewide plan to double the number of degree holders by 2020. Project Graduate is one of the first in a series of outreach efforts coordinated by the council as a part of a statewide college access initiative funded by the 2006 General Assembly.

The state’s eight public universities, in partnership with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the Association of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities, are piloting the statewide program, offering incentives and services - such as priority registration and shorter application processes - to former students. Each institution also has an adult degree advocate who helps returning adults, from filling out financial aid forms to identifying courses needed to graduate.

That role is filled at WKU by Menking.

The university, between mid-May and mid-June, sent out about 100 postcards a day - more than 2,300 - to students identified as fitting the criteria, Menking said. She said since mid-June, more than 150 people have contacted the university in response to the mailings.

“There’s been a lot of interest in the program,” she said. “A lot of people are ready to finish what they started. We are dedicated to giving them that personal attention they need. They are non-traditional students, and their needs are different than the 18-year-old freshman.”

Taking a one-on-one approach, the key is to work with the students to make sure they successfully graduate, said Dean Kahler, assistant vice president for enrollment management, previously - “which is our ultimate goal, to graduate them,” Menking said.

“It’s great that they start,” she said. “But we want them to finish.”

Menking said she attributes the success of the program to two things: the personalized attention students get and the campuswide support system.

“It was kind of overwhelming to come back,” said Geron, who noted it had been 13 years since she was a student. “But the professors were welcoming ... and I wasn’t treated any different than anyone else. It was the best semester of my college career.”

Geron said WKU Finish is a great program. She said people don’t realize what Western has to offer and how flexible Western has become to help someone finish degrees.

“There is no reason anyone shouldn’t be able to finish,” she said.