Students Graduating with Debt-Free Degrees from CCV

The Community College of Vermont (CCV) anticipates that over 70 young Vermonters will graduate with debt-free associate degrees this academic year, an average of one year out of high school. These students, the large majority of whom are still teenagers and who come from 12 of Vermont’s 14 counties, were supported in fast-tracked pathways to degrees of their choosing through the state’s Early College program and the Free Degree Promise.

The McClure Foundation created the Free Degree Promise in 2022 because it believes accelerated pathways to in-demand careers are gamechangers for Vermont youth, especially at a time when high school graduation rates and postsecondary continuation rates have declined to the lowest in New England. It offers students in the Vermont high school classes of 2023-2026 who complete the state’s Early College program at CCV five additional semesters of free tuition after federal/state aid, along with enhanced advising and stipends for expenses like transportation and textbooks.

By design, the Free Degree Promise is reaching those who are furthest from opportunity. Nearly half of this year’s graduating cohort are first-generation college students. Since the Promise was announced, CCV has seen a 150% increase in the number of low-income students entering these accelerated pathways.

“What’s clear is that these students are succeeding,” says Carolyn Weir, executive director of the McClure Foundation. “Young Vermonters supported by the Free Degree Promise are graduating at twice the rate and in half the time as community college students nationally, with an average time to graduation of 1.9 years.”

These are students like Donovan Arnold from Rich  ford, who is graduating with his accounting degree and bookkeeping certificate. “The thing I’m most excited about is being able to get into what I want to do at a young age,” said Donovan. “With an associate degree, I could get a great accounting job at the age of 19. But even if I go on to a bachelor’s or master’s degree, I’ll still be in my early twenties when I graduate. That feels like a really big win for me. I am halfway done with college with no student debt.”

Some of this year’s graduates had no intention of going to college at all. A pathway to an early, debt-free degree inspired students like Wyatt: “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, and what I would do after high school,” he said. “I sat down with my mom who talked through with me how important college is and how incredibly awesome of a chance this was to go to college without taking on debt. Debt can really impact the decision to go to college. It makes it feel like it may not be worth it. The cost can push you away from academics.”

Wyatt is transferring his love of the woods to a career in conservation or wildlife management, with hopes of eventually working for the state of Vermont.

Three years into the Free Degree Promise, the McClure Foundation believes the data shows that accelerated degree pathways give students what they need—hope about their futures in Vermont—while also giving Vermont what it needs.

The awarded degrees of graduates align closely with Vermont’s workforce needs. Twenty-five percent are graduating with degrees in health care and behavioral science, 14% in business, and 17% in STEM, Environmental Science, and IT. Associate degree graduates in Vermont are the most likely in the country to achieve a positive return on investment, according to the Strada Education Foundation.

The McClure Foundation, an affiliate of the Vermont Community Foundation, hopes the early impacts of the Free Degree Promise will inspire the state of Vermont to continue the initiative beyond the Foundation’s five-year commitment so that younger Vermonters can also count on accelerated associate degrees. Visit mcclurevt.org/freedegree to learn more.

CCV is Vermont’s second-largest college, serving more than 10,000 students each year.  With 12 locations and extensive online learning options, our students don’t have to travel far from their communities to access our degree and certificate programs, workforce, secondary and continuing education opportunities, and academic and veterans support services.