Brookdale Community College Joins Pathway to Kean Program

LINCROFT, NJ — Brookdale, Monmouth County's community college, announced it has entered into a partnership with Kean University where Brookdale students can transition to Kean in their junior year to obtain a four-year college degree.

The program is called Pathway to Kean and it offers students who don’t initially meet Kean's admissions standards an alternate route. Under the program, Kean offers Brookdale students conditional acceptance as juniors after they complete their two-year associate degree at Brookdale.

Under the new program, if any Monmouth County high school students applies to Kean University, and they do not get admitted, they will not receive a rejection letter. Instead they will receive a "not-yet letter." They will be offered the opportunity to apply to Brookdale instead.

This now applies to any high school student who lives in Monmouth County.

If a current Brookdale student wants to take this pathway, they just need to meet with an academic advisor (https://www.brookdalecc.edu/academic-advising/) to get all the information they need. Any student who applies to Brookdale and is accepted, can take advantage of this opportunity.

This comes at the same time Gov. Murphy announced this week that community college will permanently be free for New Jersey families making $65,000 a year or less. Kean University also has the most affordable tuition/fee rates in the state among four-year colleges.

Kean has its main campus in Union and there is now the Kean Ocean satellite campuses 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.

The program officially launched last year, in 2020, but Brookdale announced this week that more students will be admitted to it, and it will continue to expand over the next two years.

Brookdale students can transition to Kean and graduate with majors including criminal justice, psychology, marketing and interior design, among others.

Several county colleges across New Jersey have joined the Pathway to Kean program in recent months. Brookdale is the second largest community college in New Jersey.

"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.

Brookdale Community College offers AA, AFA, AS, and AAS degrees in 68 academic programs including options, 4 Academic Credit Certificates, and 8 Academic Credit Certificates of Achievement.

In addition, non-degree courses/non-credit courses are offered through Brookdale's Office of Continuing & Professional Studies. This division also provides courses that are specially tailored to meet the training needs of local businesses.

Most of the credit and non-credit programs are offered at their centrally located main campus in Lincroft, as well as regional locations in Freehold, Wall Township, Neptune, Hazlet and Long Branch. Classes and training can also be made available in places of work or in local high schools. Brookdale also offers fully online degree programs in Business Administration, English, History, Liberal Education, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Social Sciences.