Priorities
ACCESS
Access is the critical first step for students considering college. Unfortunately, it’s too often also the barrier that stands between many students and a degree. For students who work and struggle just to pay bills, accessing and completing college is an unlikely scenario. But campaign support for scholarships puts higher education in reach for more students and, in the end, creates an educated talent pool that enables the state of Kentucky and our region to thrive.
Invest in reducing barriers so that more learners—particularly first generation, post-traditional, low-income and under-represented individuals—can complete an NKU education in an inclusive, flexible environment that fosters student success. Give today to create the upward economic and social mobility that comes with a college degree.
RAISED
Student Scholarships Are Game Changers.
“This is great. How am I going to pay for it?” thought Kayla Combs when she opened her NKU acceptance letter.
Combs, a first-generation college student from Beattyville, Kentucky, watched her single mother struggle to support their family on minimum wage jobs all her life. She knew college would open the door to a better future; she also knew her mother couldn’t help her pay for it.
Completion
As students journey through their university experience, numerous pitfalls and obstacles can, and too often do, interrupt the path to a life-changing degree. There are numerous reasons why students consider not finishing a degree program, but our message to them is singular: You belong here. And saying this isn’t enough—we work to become home for every student on our campus through programs such as University Connect and Persist (UCAP), and attention to facilities and faculty who share NKU’s vision for excellence keep students engaged with their majors, focused on their future careers and excited about tomorrow.
Gifts to strengthen and improve programs, services and resources aimed at student support add a critical component to student success, and support for scholarships allows hard-working students to earn degrees that will change their lives, improve their communities and impact the region.
RAISED
Bridging the Way to Student Success.
“UCAP saved my life.” Kiyara “Kiki” Robinson delivers this statement with a laugh, but she’s serious about the impact Â鶹´«Ă˝â€™s University Connect and Persist (UCAP) program has had on her educational experience. Â
 A social work major driven to help people through difficulties like those she’s experienced, the freshman first-generation student dreams of attaining her bachelor’s degree to become a mental health professional at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. But not long ago, Robinson sat with advisor Deborah Henry looking at an account hold standing between her and another semester of college—and her dream.Â
Career and Community
NKU is a regional hub for success, with a multifaceted outreach that strengthens the local economy, engages regional businesses, provides cultural opportunities and spurs innovation and entrepreneurship. Whether through performances, public lectures or improvement initiatives, the work we do at NKU is vital to the region, the Commonwealth and our world, and our students and graduates are powerful forces for regional engagement. Support for programs, departments and initiatives at NKU are an investment in a better future for Greater Cincinnati.
Our goals for the coming years at NKU are ambitious, and they are determined by needs we see today and anticipate in the near future within our region. With your support, we can strengthen existing programs and dream up new educational opportunities for our students, the regional leaders of tomorrow.
RAISED
NKU Unveils Rockwell Automation and CBT Company Mechatronics Lab
Â鶹´«Ă˝, in partnership with Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK) and CBT Company, unveils a new lab designed to meet the needs of industry and give students hand-on learning in mechatronics engineering.
The Rockwell Automation & CBT Company Mechatronics Lab, housed in the Business Academic Center, celebrated its official ribbon cutting on March 26. NKU created the mechatronics degree program in 2017 because of direct feedback from the industry.
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