The university's latest effort is funded through an $800,000 grant from the Crankstart Foundation that will provide reentry scholarships to adult learners pursuing their first bachelor's degrees. The four-year award, effective Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2030, continues a scholarship program Morgan has administered since 2016 through its Center for Continuing and Professional Studies.
The grant is part of a broader expansion of Morgan's efforts to serve adult learners in credit-bearing programs.
A 2025 report from the American Institutes for Research described Morgan as having “expanded its efforts to support adult learners through institutional changes aimed at increasing degree completion.” The report noted that Morgan had served adult learners through the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies since 1963, but that the university later identified a need for additional pathways for adult learners seeking credit-bearing degrees.
That effort accelerated in 2021, when Morgan launched the College of Interdisciplinary and Continuing Studies, or CICS, and its Morgan Completes You initiative. The college was created to serve nontraditional students, returning students, working adults, and students who need or prefer remote education. Maryland's Higher Education Commission approved 18 new interdisciplinary programs for the initiative that year.
Today, Morgan describes the 18 CICS programs as degree-completion programs designed for adult learners with prior college credit. They include eight bachelor's programs, five master's programs and five doctoral programs. The university says the programs are structured to provide flexibility for students balancing education with work, caregiving and other responsibilities.
Students receive credit for prior learning, and work with advisers to develop individual paths toward graduation. The university's bachelor's programs are specifically designed for students with some college credit who have not completed a degree.
