Gov. Phil Bryant announced Tuesday that 2,400 former students who never completed their bachelor’s degree but may not need additional course work are just a click away from receiving their degree by accessing the new Complete 2 Compete program online.

“A little boy that grew up in a blue collar world would grow up to be the governor of the state of Mississippi. You can’t hardly do that without a degree,” said Bryant.

In November, Bryant and state education officials introduced Complete 2 Compete, an initiative that would help former students return to the classroom to complete their college degree programs.

Complete 2 Compete could award 200,000-plus Mississippians with college degrees, including 28,000 students who have enough credits to earn an associate’s degree with no additional course work and more than 100,000 former students who can earn either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree with some additional course work.

There is no cost for accessing the Complete 2 Compete portal.

This program created the first partnership between the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and the Mississippi Community College Board, said Dr. Andrea Mayfield, executive director of the MCCB. The Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges is also partnering in the project.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security provided funding grants for the project.

“This is a program that’s designed for exponential change, not a program designed for small incremental growth,” said IHL Commissioner Glenn Boyce.

“We believe this is one opportunity to grow the tax base by helping individuals move from dependents to self-sufficiency,” said John Davis, executive director of the MDHS.

The initiative will target four classifications of people:

• Former adult students eligible for reverse transfer associate degree with no additional coursework
• Former adult students eligible for baccalaureate degree with no additional coursework
• Former adult students with some college and no degree who may complete an associate degree with some additional coursework
• Former adult students with some college and no degree who may complete a bachelor’s degree with some additional coursework

See how close you are to completing your degree here.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, you can republish most of Mississippi Today’s stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
• Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

For print publications:

• You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.

If you have any other questions, contact Audience Development Director Lauchlin Fields.

Complete 2 Compete site launches for students to finish what they started

by Ashley F.G. Norwood, Mississippi Today
August 15, 2017

<h1>Complete 2 Compete site launches for students to finish what they started</h1> <p class="byline">by Ashley F.G. Norwood, Mississippi Today <br />August 15, 2017</p> </p> <p>Gov. Phil Bryant announced Tuesday that 2,400 former students who never completed their bachelor’s degree but may not need additional course work are just a click away from receiving their degree by accessing the new Complete 2 Compete program online.</p> <p>“A little boy that grew up in a blue collar world would grow up to be the governor of the state of Mississippi. You can’t hardly do that without a degree,” said Bryant.</p> <p>In November, Bryant and state education officials introduced Complete 2 Compete, an initiative that would help former students return to the classroom to complete their college degree programs.</p> <p>Complete 2 Compete could award 200,000-plus Mississippians with college degrees, including 28,000 students who have enough credits to earn an associate’s degree with no additional course work and more than 100,000 former students who can earn either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree with some additional course work.</p> <p>There is no cost for accessing the Complete 2 Compete portal.</p> <p>This program created the first partnership between the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and the Mississippi Community College Board, said Dr. Andrea Mayfield, executive director of the MCCB. The Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges is also partnering in the project.</p> <p>The Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security provided funding grants for the project.</p> <p>“This is a program that’s designed for exponential change, not a program designed for small incremental growth,” said IHL Commissioner Glenn Boyce.</p> </p> <p>“We believe this is one opportunity to grow the tax base by helping individuals move from dependents to self-sufficiency,” said John Davis, executive director of the MDHS.</p> <p>The initiative will target four classifications of people:</p> <ul> <li>Former adult students eligible for reverse transfer associate degree with no additional coursework</li> <li>Former adult students eligible for baccalaureate degree with no additional coursework</li> <li>Former adult students with some college and no degree who may complete an associate degree with some additional coursework</li> <li>Former adult students with some college and no degree who may complete a bachelor’s degree with some additional coursework</li> </ul> <p>See how close you are to completing your degree <a href="http://www.msc2c.org">here</a>.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2017/08/15/complete-2-compete-site-launches-for-students-to-finish-what-they-started/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=86634&amp;ga3=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

1