CEI hopes to keep graduating seniors local with Idaho LAUNCH program
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IDAHO FALLS – The College of Eastern Idaho is incentivizing local graduating seniors to stay local and become marketable with the Idaho LAUNCH program.
CEI President Rick Aman, Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Baker, and Idaho Sen. Dave Lent, spoke on Friday about the new program thanks to the Idaho LAUNCH Grant, how it will work, and how they hope it will impact the community.
“When you look around at our local area, it is evident that we’re growing, but one question I hear often as the Chamber CEO is how do we manage this growth while also protecting our community and keep the greater Idaho Falls area great?” said Baker. “There is a significant talent-filled gap across several sectors here in the Idaho Falls/Ammon area. Our employers are having to recruit talent from outside the state, and our homegrown students are leaving to find education and employment options elsewhere.”
RELATED | CEI enrollment expected to ‘boom’ with new Idaho LAUNCH Grant
In September 2022, Gov. Brad Little convinced legislators to put $80 million a year into an in-demand career fund, according to Idaho Ed News. The session provided funding and impetus for LAUNCH.
The program will award eligible applicants 80% of their tuition, up to $8,000, to put toward courses at eligible institutions. Students will still need to pay 20% of the tuition if they are awarded grant money.
“This is a unique state, and this is a unique opportunity with the launch. Eight thousand dollars for any graduating senior is unique. There are a few states that do this, but especially for the governor’s office and for our legislators that voted for this, we want to thank you for it,” said Lent. “College of Eastern Idaho is the tip of the spear. This is the place in Idaho Falls where a lot of you, as high school graduates coming up in spring, are going to be able to attend, and we want to invite you here.”
The applications for LAUNCH opened on Oct. 3, offering between 9,000 and 10,000 awards to students in hopes to jump-start their academic careers and keep them in Idaho.
“Wouldn’t it be great if our youth stayed here? Wouldn’t it be great if those born and raised in this community stayed in this community so that we can ensure we keep the spirit of what makes this area so great?” said Baker. “The very people we call our neighbors, our friends, our family. The Idaho LAUNCH program is something that can help us achieve that.”
Supporters of the program say they have been working closely with local employers to ask what courses their future workers will need to find a successful career.
“We are sharing our community with Idaho National Lab, and Idaho National Lab is known nationally for cybersecurity and, of course, for nuclear small modular reactors, technology, energy, clean energy, all of those things are wonderful occupations that our students, with a little bit of training, could go into,” says Aman. “We are so fortunate to be neighbors with Idaho National Lab.”
To qualify for the grant, students must be Idaho residents and graduates of an Idaho high school or equivalent.
They need to be enrolled in or have applied to an in-demand career program at an eligible Idaho institution and intend to begin school by the fall semester immediately following graduation. Candidates are also required to complete a Career Pathway Plan or an equivalent.
“It really creates an opportunity for those who graduate from high school, who rather than start off at $20,000 to $22,000 a year, to spend some time, get a marketable skill, and get out with a living wage, so they actually have a chance to support their families, to contribute to our communities in a positive way, rather than to be dependent so much on social programs,” Lent said.
Some of the most in-demand professions, like in the healthcare industry, are included in the courses offered at CEI and other institutions that are eligible for the LAUNCH program, including medical assisting, practical nursing, registered nursing, and surgical technicians.
“We have great partners with our hospitals here. It has been a great opportunity with a significant amount of nursing and medical professions. Mountain View, Idaho Falls Community and EIRMC are all major hospitals that need registered nursing, and need practical nursing, that need (surgical technicians), that need health physics and medical assisting,” Aman said. “Those are all areas in our community that the College of Eastern Idaho will provide training in.”
Initial LAUNCH program applications are due on Nov. 30, and contingent award letters will be sent by Dec. 31, March 31, and May 31. The applications will close on April 15.
“As the CEO for the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, whose purpose is to advocate for our local economy and community, I want our youth to know that our community and economy needs you,” says Baker. “We really do need you. My call to action today is to invite you to get educated about the LAUNCH program right away and submit an application.”
To learn more about the LAUNCH Program, visit the Idaho LAUNCH website here, or call CEI at (208) 535-3000.