Brookdale Community College Joins Pathway to Kean Program

The presidents of Kean University and Brookdale Community College this week signed an agreement bringing Brookdale into the Pathway to Kean program, providing students with access to an affordable path for achieving a four-year degree. The virtual event came during the Brookdale Board of Trustees meeting.

Pathway to Kean, launched last year, offers students who don’t initially meet University admissions standards a formal, alternate route to earning a Kean degree. Under the program, Kean offers these 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 O. Repollet, Ed.D. “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.” 

Brookdale Community College President David Stout, Ph.D., said the program will ease the transition that many students already make from the college to Kean. 

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

Brookdale’s location in Monmouth County makes it well positioned for students to transfer to 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. Kean also has a campus in China, Wenzhou-Kean University. 

“Brookdale is excited to offer this transfer opportunity for students, and to provide them with a seamless transfer process. Kean University has been a top 10 transfer institution for Brookdale students for several years, and this agreement provides even more opportunities for our students,” said Sarah McElroy, Ed.D., executive director of career & transfer pathways at Brookdale.

Students who apply to Kean and are conditionally accepted into the Pathway to Kean program will receive support from the University as they earn their associate degree, and their records will be shared for a smooth transition to a four-year degree program.

Unique to the partnership with Brookdale, students accepted into Pathway to Kean will be able to select from a dozen programs, including Criminal Justice, Psychology, Marketing and Interior Design, that have a mapped curriculum leading them through the steps of achieving a four-year Kean degree in their major. 

Kean is recognized as a transfer-student friendly institution and has been named to the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Transfer Honor Roll for several years. Students in the Pathway to Kean program benefit from the most affordable tuition/fee rates in the state among four-year colleges, combined with additional affordability from low tuition rates at the county college level. 

Several county colleges across New Jersey have joined the Pathway to Kean program in recent months. The program will continue to expand over the next two years.