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Grammy winner Jason Isbell finishes his degree at University of Memphis

September 21, 2023 - More than two decades after quitting the University of Memphis, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Isbell has finally received his degree from the school. On Sept. 18, the University of Memphis Alumni Association tweeted a photo of Isbell accepting a certificate recognizing him as a "new alumnus" of the school before his Sept. 16 show at Memphis Botanic Garden. Isbell — who attended Memphis in the 1990s studying English and Music — completed his degree through the university's Finish Line Program, according to a university spokesperson. The program helps students with 90 or more credits who have had a break in their education finish their coursework. It has helped more than 700 students complete their degrees since 2013. Read full article here >>>

Building on Completion Gains: Amplifying Progress and Closing Persistent Gaps

December 2022 - "Complete College America Recommends That Colleges: Proactively advise students to stay on track. Combined with active academic support, dedicated advising that helps students at just the right time can make a critical contribution to improving success rates. The University of Memphis Finish Line program, for example, is geared toward working adults who have stopped out and need to wrap up their degree. Through tailored advising, the university has helped hundreds of students attain credentials they would not have gotten otherwise." - Complete College America (pg. 27) <<<To acess the full publication online, click here >>>

Saylor Academy partners with University of Memphis and the Finish Line program:

<h2>Former Student Athlete Completes Degree with Finish Line</h2> <p><br>November 28, 2020 - Tweet from @MemphisTigers</p> <p> <img src="/cree/finishline/Images/alissafogel.png" alt="Tweet from Memphis Tigers about graduate Alissa Fogel" width="570" height="724"></p> <h2><br>Saylor Academy: Getting to students to the "Finish Line"</h2> <p>July 8, 2020 - Read about how the Finish Line Program's partnership with Saylor Academy is helping serve students by providing unique resources to earn their degrees.....<a href="https://www.aacrao.org/resources/newsletters-blogs/aacrao-connect/article/getting-students-to-the-finish-line">Read the article here >></a></p> <p> <br> <img src="/cree/finishline/gift.jpg" alt="gift" width="640" height="480"></p> <h2>Patriot Bank Makes $25,000 Donation to UofM's Finish Line Program</h2> <p>June 4, 2015 - Patriot Bank is making a gift of $25,000 to the University of Memphis' Finish Line program. The gift was announced at today's meeting of the Millington Rotary Club.</p> <p>The Finish Line program encourages students who have dropped out after earning 90 or more credit hours to return to school to finish their degrees at low or no cost. Many of these students have to abandon their dreams of earning a degree because they have exhausted their financial aid or due to social factors, such as having to work full time to support a family. Finish Line students may take traditional or online courses, and may receive Experiential Learning Credit for knowledge or skills gained outside the University. Some earn credit through national exams..... <a href="/mediaroom/releases/2015/jun15/patriotbank.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the full news release ></a></p> <h2>Committee for Economic Development - Blog</h2> <h3>Helping More Students Complete College: The Role of Emergency Aid</h3> <p>October 27, 2012<br>Projects: Postsecondary Education Project,<br>By Monica Herk, Vice President of Education Research</p> <p>This election season has brought much attention – at least among the Democrats – to increasing college enrollment. Proposals have ranged from making community college loan-free to making it completely free. But we know that simply getting more people started in college has little impact, if they fail to earn a degree or certificate. It's completion – not enrollment – we should care about, especially when it comes to four-year degrees........<a href="https://www.ced.org/blog/entry/helping-more-students-complete-college-the-role-of-emergency-aid" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Read the blog post ></a></p> <h2>Saylor.org - Blog</h2> <h3>University of Memphis' "Finish Line" Program Expands With Saylor Academy Courses</h3> <p>Like many colleges and universities around the United States, the University of Memphis recognized that a segment of its student population needed additional supports and pathways to drive higher degree completion rates....... <a href="http://www.saylor.org/2015/09/blog-university-of-memphis-finish-line-program-expands-with-saylor-academy-courses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the post at saylor.org > </a></p> <h2>The Commercial Appeal - Local Newspaper</h2> <h3>Sedgwick pledges $300,000 to UofM program for adults</h3> <p>Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. has pledged $300,000 over three years to the University of Memphis to help adults complete degrees they started and stopped.........<a href="http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/schools/sedgwick-pledges-300000-to-u-of-m-program-for-adults-ep-928494777-324463691.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more about their pledge ></a></p> <h2>High Ground News</h2> <h3>Building a thriving city, one degree at a time</h3> <p>Government, non-profits and educational institutions are working in tandem to raise post-secondary education attainment in Memphis. The strategies are varied--from removing financial barriers to encouraging adults to return to school--but the outcomes are proving effective in creating a more competitive city.........<a href="http://www.highgroundnews.com/features/PostSecondary071614.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Read More</a></p> <h3>New funding helps local adults finish college degrees</h3> <p>This week Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam announced the launching of Tennessee Reconnect, a state initiative that will help more adults return to school to complete their post-secondary education......<a href="http://www.highgroundnews.com/innovationnews/FinishLine.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read the story ></a></p> <h2>Association of Public & Land - Grant Universities </h2> <h3><em>Foiling the Drop-Out Trap, Completion Grant Practices for Retaining and Graduating Students</em></h3> <p>February 22, 2016</p> <p>Washington, DC – Determined to prevent low-income college students nearing graduation from dropping out, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU) today released a report and implementation guide detailing how universities can use micro-grants to ensure such students complete their degree.</p> <p>Among the program models highlighted in the report are the:</p> <ul> <li><span style="color: #003366;">Finish Line Program, the University of Memphis degree completion program.</span></li> <li>Panther Retention Grant Program offered by Georgia State University catch at-risk students with genuine unmet financial need on track for graduation.</li> <li>Reclamation Initiative developed by Morgan State University to help reclaim dropped out students.</li> <li>Home Stretch Program, the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis completion program for students in their fifth or sixth year of study, and</li> <li>The Graduation Funds Program offered by Virginia Commonwealth University to support students nearing graduation who have not registered for their final semester.......<a href="http://www.aplu.org/news-and-media/News/aplu-and-urban-serving-universities-release-report">Read Entire Article Here</a></li> </ul> <h2>Patriot Bank Makes $25,000 Donation to UofM's Finish Line Program</h2> <p>June 4, 2015 - Patriot Bank is making a gift of $25,000 to the University of Memphis' Finish Line program. The gift was announced at today's meeting of the Millington Rotary Club.</p> <p>The Finish Line program encourages students who have dropped out after earning 90 or more credit hours to return to school to finish their degrees at low or no cost. Many of these students have to abandon their dreams of earning a degree because they have exhausted their financial aid or due to social factors, such as having to work full time to support a family. Finish Line students may take traditional or online courses, and may receive Experiential Learning Credit for knowledge or skills gained outside the University. Some earn credit through national exams.<a href="/mediaroom/releases/2015/jun15/patriotbank.php"> Read More >></a></p> <p>The Students are speaking out as well. <a href="/cree/finishline/studentsspeak.php">See what they have to say about their experience with the Finish Line Program!</a></p>

Awarded Saylor Academy's Degree Completion Partner of 2021

January 3, 2022 - The University of Memphis and the Finish Line Program have been selected as Saylor Academy's Degree Completion Partner of the Year during their 2021 Saylor Academy Partner and Student Awards. Memphis partners with Saylor Academy as part of its Finish Line Program - an innovative initiative to help adults with some college experience who have not yet earned a degree. Finish Line reaches out to stop out students - many of whom stopped out for financial reasons - and offers them a chance to return to the University with a complete plan that often includes Saylor Academy courses. Finish Line has helped 870 students to date to return and earn degrees, with another 60 students set to graduate at the end of this year. The students have earned a total of $3,642 worth of credit hours. Their persistence is commendable and the innovative approach to Finish Line is an aspirational model for degree completion programs everywhere. To see the full awards video on LinkedIn, click here >>>

UofM Finish Line program receives ACHE award

October 18, 2021 - The University of Memphis' Finish Line Program was selected for the "Older Adult Model Program" Award for the 2021 year by the Association for Continuing Higher Education. This award is given by Finish Line’s colleagues and the ACHE to the group they believe had the most success in that category.

The University of Memphis Senior To Graduate This Fall With A Full Semester’s Worth Of Saylor Academy Courses

September 10, 2021 - Saylor Academy courses are used in the award-winning “Finish Line” degree completion program at the University of Memphis. To date, students have completed 1,214 courses and earned 3,642 credits through Saylor courses transferred to the University of Memphis!

Finish Line students are busy adults, like Corey, with senior standing (or 30 credits or less to graduate), who is returning to Memphis to complete their degrees. Saylor courses enable these students to study at their own pace and complete without incurring additional debt. Read the full article here >>

How This UofM Student Returned to Finish Her Degree with Honors | Saylor Academy

August 19, 2021 - Kelsie is a Saylor and University of Memphis student who is graduating this summer. Through Finish Line, she was able to finish her Bachelor’s degree with honors; despite also planning a wedding and working, because of the flexibility that Saylor courses offered her. Read the full interview here >>

UofM celebrates graduates after a year of COVID: "Ten Years in the Making"

May 8, 2021 - Excerpt: "Abigail Bringle, 29, started at U of M in 2009 and attended the school for five years before leaving due to her anxiety and depression. But in the summer of 2020, she got in touch with her guidance counselor and re-enrolled through the Finish Line Program, which helps students who have not yet completed college but have a year or less of study to do to get their degree.

She credited the program for making her educational accomplishment possible and encouraged others who have not finished their degrees to explore it.

“We made a plan and it went from being this scary, horrible ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this program' to very, very doable,” she said Friday. “I went to school for the last year straight, all summer long. I finally graduate tomorrow, and I just cannot believe it.” Read the full article here >>