NEW YORK
Juanita Rivera has been in and out of community colleges so many times over the past 25 years that the thought of obtaining an associate degree seems very unlikely.
“Each time that I started I had the intention of finishing,” says Rivera, 50, who has often been forced to cut her education short to find a second and sometimes third part-time job. “Someone would look at me and probably think that I don’t want to finish, but I really do. It’s just extremely hard.”
Rivera, a mother of four, is just the kind of student that the New York City says it wants to help. In his annual “State of the City” address, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the city would spend $20 million over three years to fund a new City University of New York program aimed at helping students in community colleges graduate and find jobs.
Bloomberg said the bold new initiative, called Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, or ASAP, will begin in September at six community colleges. About 1,000 high school seniors and working poor adults will be enrolled in the new program.
“CUNY ASAP is designed to provide New York City with the educated work force that it must have in order to stay competitive with cities around the world,” said Bloomberg. “As far as we know, no community college system anywhere has attempted this approach. But every successful business offers services that reflect customers’ needs and so should government.”
According to CUNY officials, the degrees that students pursue in the ASAP program will be related to their future employment interests, and their classes will be divided into morning, afternoon and evening tracks. Officials say that by structuring the program in this way, students will receive greater mentoring and educational support and will be able to maintain their studies while working at job in their related field.
