FLCC Completion Day speaker to share tips for college success #nycompletionday

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Isa Adney

A woman who gave up private college to spare her parents from six-figure debt will visit Finger Lakes Community College to talk about her life-changing experience at community college on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 1 p.m. in the Student Center.Isa Adney writes about finding her future at Seminole Community College in Florida in her book, “Community College Success: How to Finish with Friends, Scholarships, Internships, and the Career of Your Dreams,” published in March of this year.The event is part of FLCC’s participation in New York State Completion Day, an initiative of all 37 community colleges in New York state, which have a combined enrollment of 335,000. The 30 State University of New York (SUNY) and seven City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges have set aside Wednesday, Oct. 3, to send a simple message: Students who complete an associate degree have better prospects for jobs, scholarships and transfer to four-year schools.New York’s two-year schools have each planned multiple Completion Day events. These include campaigns asking students to sign a pledge to complete their degree or certificate program. Campuses will also hold resource fairs to provide information about academic, advisement and financial support services that can help students reach their goals. Other examples from across the state:

• Cayuga Community College will host a panel featuring recent alumni who will share the struggles they faced in completing their degrees and how their decision to complete has affected their lives.
• Faculty and staff at Corning and Monroe community colleges will wear clothing bearing names of their alma maters and talk to students about what motivated them to graduate.
• Erie Community College alumni who transferred to Buffalo State will talk to current students about their adjustment to a four-year college.
• Jefferson Community College plans exhibits with posters prompting students to ask how a college degree leads to professional and financial rewards. For example, a display of a Ford Mustang prompts students to ask: “How can I buy this?” A human service display invites students to “Ask me how I saved a life.”

Isa Adney’s lecture at FLCC will be viewed live via webstream at community colleges across the state. It will also be recorded for later airing on FLTV, cable channel 12 in the Time Warner system.“Isa Adney understands the challenges community college students face. She also knows how community colleges are positioned to offer the support students need to be successful,” said FLCC President Barbara Risser. “Isa’s book is filled with excellent practical advice. I encourage parents of high school and college students to join us.”After high school, Adney packed her bags for a four-year private college. She changed her mind days before leaving once she saw the $25,000 bill. Her parents were already overwhelmed with medical debt due to one brother’s short-term paralysis and another’s epilepsy.In her book, Adney recalls enrolling in a nearby community college in tears because she didn’t know what to do next. She joined clubs and sought advice from faculty, staff, alumni and other students. Her experiences and contacts combined with small class sizes enabled her to thrive.Adney graduated in May 2007 with a $110,000 scholarship that covered her bachelor’s in communication from Stetson University and her master’s in training and development from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After working in a community college for three years in admissions and student life, she is now a writer and speaker who helps other students chart a path to success at community college.In addition to Adney’s talk, members of the FLCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa will collect signatures throughout the day on Oct. 3 from students who make a commitment to complete their academic program. “We want students to understand the benefits of completing their degrees, including higher incomes, lower unemployment rates and a smoother transfer process,” said Andrew Henry of Canandaigua, president of the FLCC honor society. “Students often transfer without graduating, but if something interrupts their education at their four-year school – an illness or financial problem, for example – the student could be left with no degree at all.” The state’s community colleges have adopted the slogan of “Commit. Complete. Compete” for Oct. 3 to emphasize that graduating puts students in a position to compete for scholarships, internships and jobs in an uncertain economy. SUNY and CUNY schools are sharing statistics and information with students to boost the case for completion, such as:

• Students who complete an associate degree can expect to earn $400,000 more in a lifetime than a high school graduate. For those who transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree, the figure rises to $900,000. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
• An August 2012 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce finds that almost half of the jobs lost in the recession have been recovered and virtually all of those jobs required some form of postsecondary education. (Source: “The College Advantage: Weathering the Economic Storm”)
• New York residents who transfer directly from a SUNY or CUNY two-year college with an associate degree are guaranteed entry to a four-year SUNY college. (Source: SUNY Transfer Guarantee Program Guidelines, Document Number: 3303)