Never Underestimate You! That’s the mantra behind a new campaign for the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship, an effort to boost education and employability among adults.
The scholarship, which Hazard Community and Technical College began offering in 2017, offers up to 60 hours of free tuition for anyone who has not yet earned an associate degree. It covers a wide variety of technical programs in health care, manufacturing, business/IT, construction/skilled trades and transportation/logistics. Over 350 courses are currently available.
Funded by the Kentucky Lottery, courses are available through Hazard Community and Technical and the other 15 colleges of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), Campbellsville University, Eastern Kentucky University, Galen College of Nursing, MedQuest College, Northern Kentucky University, Sullivan University, University of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University.
HCTC President Dr. Jennifer Lindon noted, “Hazard Community and Technical College is pleased to be a partner in the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Work Ready Scholarship Program; we have seen many students helped by this partnership.” The scholarship covers tuition up to 60 credit hours for many technical program areas, such as manufacturing, construction, healthcare, business and information technology, and transportation. Students can move quickly into jobs in these fields in sometimes as little as four to six weeks, all at no tuition cost through the Work Ready Scholarship. “This is a wonderful opportunity and students may qualify for this scholarship even if they do not qualify for other standard types of federal financial aid. I hope students will call us at 1-800-246-7521 and ask about this program,” Dr. Lindon said. Those interested should ask for Scott Gross, Work Ready Coordinator at HCTC.
The new campaign features a hotline number (833-711-WRKS) that adults can call to receive assistance from college advisors on how to enroll in the program.
Hip-hop artist Buffalo “B.” Stille of the Nappy Roots is the campaign spokesperson and created a rap about the scholarship that is featured in all the advertising.
Stille, a Grammy and American Music Awards nominee, recently earned his bachelor’s degree and champions education as the key to a better life. His rap urges Kentuckians to “Never underestimate you!” He is a Louisville resident and Kentucky native.
“I believe that education is the one thing that nobody can take away from you,’ said Stille. “The Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship program is amazing because it offers a lot of different skills sets and is tuition free. If I can go back to school anybody can do it.”
The Work Ready campaign is a partnership between KCTCS, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, the Kentucky Lottery, Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, The Graduate Network, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, Prichard Committee and AARP. It is also supported and partially funded by the Lumina Foundation.
For more information about Work Ready and the campaign, visit the website Hazard.kctcs.edu
