The ol’ college try

File under It Can Only Help

Who says newspapers are full of only bad news? That we only print stories about accidents and crimes and protesting professors and crooked politicians and pension plans that are going broke and gaffes by political candidates and the latest unhappy football score and an unemployment rate that refuses to drop and maybe a state treasurer giving a staffer the evil eye and. . . .

Okay, so there’s a lot of bad news in the paper. It’s news, too. We can’t avoid it, and you wouldn’t want us to.

But there is, on frequent occasion, good news that leads the paper. Or at least leads the Northwest Arkansas Section.

Did you see the story Wednesday about the new website that’s being put together to help college dropouts drop back in? That’s got to be one for the Good News column.

Colleges in these here hills, plus a non-profit and a couple of civicminded sponsors, have put together something called graduateNWA.com to help college drop-outs find a way to get back to their education. The website isdesigned to help anybody interested find degree programs, class schedules, financial help and all the fixings.

If it increases the number of college students around here, that news would be important. The percentage of Arkansas adults who hold bachelor’s degrees is below the national average-and when companies are looking for a place to locate or relocate, that’s one of the numbers execs look at.

A visit to the website will let you know how much more those with degrees earn over a lifetime. There’s information on academic programs from animal science to statistics, from accounting to sports medicine. And the deadlines to apply for admission to universities and colleges in this neck of the Ozarks.

It’s an impressive service. And a helpful one. And if it works, it could even be important. It could change lives. For the better. Especially if all these folks not only enter higher education but stay there long enough to get a degree, maybe even an education.

So this is good news. Score one for the home paper.

Editorial, Pages 12 on 09/22/2012

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