Fall is a time of renewal at a university, including the arrival of a new class of students full of promise and possibilities. At Western Kentucky University, a strong class of 2021 has begun its higher education journey, and we stand at the ready to ensure that journey is successful.

The quality of our incoming class remains strong. Fifty-two percent of our first-time, first-year students have already earned college credit. In fact, a record 170 students are entering as sophomores, 29 as juniors and one as a senior! This is important as we strive to ensure students graduate in four years.

The class has an average ACT score of 23, three points higher than the state average, and an average GPA of 3.3.

One incredible statistic is that 33 percent of all first-time students are the first in their immediate families to attend college. Access to education is important as members of each generation strive to make a good living for themselves. But access without success is access to nothing.

At WKU, our mission as a student-centered university is to help them succeed in the classroom, in the laboratory, in the workplace, in the world and in their lives. That means that once they arrive on the Hill, we must work to ensure that they persist and earn a degree in four years. To that end, we are implementing several new initiatives proven to increase student success:

In the future, we will shift our freshman year programming to the bottom of the Hill, to include a first-year village concept as we replace older residence halls with new living space. This is an intentional move to more fully embrace living learning communities in our residence halls and to construct facilities with student success and connectivity to campus life in mind. The time our students spend outside of the classroom is as important as the time spent in class.

We also want our students to graduate with as little debt as possible. There has been an intentional shift in financial aid strategy during the last couple of years to reach a broader group of students. That review will continue and we will be placing a priority on private fundraising to support our financial aid initiatives.

WKUs impact extends far beyond the Hill. In conjunction with the steps weve already taken what I call strategic doing we are engaging all of our stakeholders in the formation of a roadmap to guide WKU for the next 10 years strategic planning. All of this the doing and the planning is focused on our core mission as a student-centered, applied research university: to inspire innovation, elevate communities and transform lives.

Tim Caboni is president of Western Kentucky University.

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New initiatives, programs at WKU all have advantages - Bowling Green Daily News