Brookdale Community College joins pathway to Kean Program

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Brookdale Community College has joined the Pathway to Kean program, paving the way for Brookdale students to earn a four-year degree at Kean.

The college and university launched the Pathway to Kean last year. It offers students who don’t initially meet university admissions standards a formal, alternate route to earning a degree at Kean. Kean offers students conditional acceptance into the university as juniors after they complete their associate degree.

“We are delighted to welcome Brookdale Community College into the Pathway to Kean program, which provides access and equity in higher education,” said Kean President Lamont Repollet in a prepared statement. “Brookdale is recognized for excellence, and as the second-largest community college in New Jersey, it has long been important to Kean. Together we are expanding educational opportunities for New Jersey’s students.”

Many Brookdale students opt to go to Kean, so the program will ease the transition that many students already take from the college to Kean, said Brookdale Community College President David Stout. Kean University has been in the top 10 institutions to transfer to for Brookdale students for several years.

“This agreement with Kean University demonstrates our collective commitment to giving the students in our area every opportunity to succeed,” Stout said in a prepared statement. “We are incredibly proud of our ongoing relationship with President Repollet and our collaborative work with his team.”

Brookdale is centrally located in Lincroft between Kean’s main campus in Union or Kean Ocean in Toms River and Manahawkin. Students can also choose to study at Kean Skylands in Jefferson or at Wenzhou-Kean University, its location in China.

Unique to the partnership with Brookdale, students accepted into Pathway to Kean will be able to select from a dozen programs such as criminal justice, psychology, marketing and interior design that have a mapped curriculum leading them through two years at Kean following two at Brookdale.

Several county colleges across New Jersey have joined the Pathway to Kean program in recent months, and the university plans to continue expanding over the next two years.