Elizabethtown Community and Technical College President Dr. Juston Pate says when students are forced to stop their academic pursuits at the college it is rarely due to academic reasons.
“It’s really and truly those non-academic life barriers that pose those problems that seem insurmountable, and just prevent continuation toward a better life,” Pate said.
Pate says a survey of students found that 38 percent of them ran out of money six times over the course of the academic year.
“That’s what we are working to overcome, and the talent level of these folks that we’re talking about is immense,” Pate said. “The talent is there. We just have to find ways to focus that talent and channel that talent to something other than survival mode.”
ECTC hopes to eliminate one of the biggest barriers, housing, as they and partner organization Family Scholar House announced Friday the Home for Hope Campaign, a fundraising effort to secure the last $1.5 million needed to construct a $14.8 million 48-unit apartment complex on ECTC’s campus. Beginning in 2025, the complex will provide student partners with housing while they complete their education and build a better life for themselves and their families.
ECTC says Family Scholar house has provided more than 700 students with services the college is not able to provide. Those services support students like Lacy Sallee, a single mother pursuing her associate’s degree in applied science.
“It’s knowing that I have people willing to be there to show me how to work through my issues and to get things done not for me but to teach me how to do it for myself,” Sallee said. “I want to become something that my children can look up to, and I want to have a career doing something I can wake up and look forward to doing every single day.”
Pate says the project will have an impact on ECTC for years to come.
“It’s not just a solution for 48 families,” Pate said. “It’s a solution for 48 families at a time until they get their degree, then we have programs to get them transitioned into stable housing. It’s a long-term, multi-phase, multi-generation, multi-participant program.”
To learn more or to donate, visit www.ectcforbetterlives.com.
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