HALF PRICE classes for unemployed

New program will help unemployed get re-trained at KCTCS

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is launching a program to provide scholarships to those who recently lost their jobs.

The college system’s Career Transitions initiative, which KCTCS President Michael McCall and Gov. Steve Beshear announced Tuesday, would allow any Kentuckian who lost a job and filed for unemployment benefits since Oct. 1, 2008 to take up to 6 credit hours in a term at half price.

The program also will connect those students with a streamlined admissions process, help with filling out financial aid forms and advising sessions to ease the transition into courses to be trained in “high-growth, high-wage fields,” according to a statement from the college system.

The program is in response to the spike in unemployment Kentucky has seen since the economy turned sour over the last year. The state’s unemployment rate reached 8.7 percent in January — a 22 year high.

“The KCTCS Career Transitions program is a key ingredient in our efforts to transform the state’s economy during these challenging times,” Beshear said in a statement.

Read more in Wednesday’s Herald-Leader.

- Ryan Alessi