March 21, 2022

Media Advisory: Saluki Step Ahead agreements with Kaskaskia, Rend Lake

Southern Illinois University Carbondale Chancellor Austin A. Lane and other university officials will be at Kaskaskia College in Centralia and Rend Lake College in Ina on Wednesday, March 23, to sign Saluki Step Ahead agreements and bring the expertise of a doctoral research university to place-bound students. Reporters, photographers, and news crews are invited to cover either or both ceremonies.

At the respective ceremonies, Kaskaskia College President George Evans and Rend Lake College President Terry Wilkerson will be joining Chancellor Lane. These agreements will give qualified community college students the option to earn their bachelor’s degrees remotely and at a lower cost in six academic programs: accounting, business administration, health care management, radiologic sciences, criminology, and criminal justice, and psychology.

The schedule is:

  • 10:30 a.m. — Kaskaskia College, Administration Building (AD Building), Conference Room 201. The building is located behind the main HB (Health and Business) Building, 27210 College Road, Centralia, Illinois.
  • 1 p.m. — Rend Lake College, Slankard Learning Resource Center, 468 N. Ken Gray Parkway, Ina, Illinois.

These new agreements will bring SIU Carbondale to a total of 16 Saluki Step Ahead pacts that the university has with community colleges in Illinois and Missouri, with more anticipated this spring.

Following graduation with an associate degree from the community college, students can go on to complete their SIU bachelor’s degrees online. Students in the program pay the community college rate for their first two years. In the third and fourth years, they receive an annual $4,000 scholarship. The goal is to allow them to earn their degree for $25,000 or less. For more about Saluki Step Ahead, read last fall’s press release.

If you are interested in covering any of the ceremonies, contact Kim Rendfeld, SIU’s director of communications, by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, at kim.rendfeld@siu.edu or 765-426-3650 (cell).