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We are grateful for the leadership and foresight of Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania -- Lock Haven, Mansfield and Bloomsburg universities -- in entering an agreement with school districts across our region to serve students wanting to enhance their lives with education.
The agreement, reported on in Wednesday's edition of The Express, streamlines admission for our region's high school students and dedicates scholarship funding for middle-class and working-class families.
Just what's needed.
Many families across our region and country are confronted by rising costs for higher education.
Indeed, too many kids are putting off college or even trade schools because of the fear of debt.
This agreement an example of exactly the kind of solution for which we've long advocated: An initiative of our excellent area colleges to address the problem and open up more avenues to careers for young people.
Not a bureaucrat-driven boondoggle that adds trillions of dollars to our nation's debt, but the people who know the details and nuances of the problems finding solutions instead.
As Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Bashar Hanna said: "It's about our future."
This agreement is a pivotal step in the right direction for hundreds, if not thousands, of our region's young people as they look ahead to their future careers and future contributions to society.
Just as importantly, it could be a model for a future that addresses our society's problems not with top-down, one-size-fits-all thinking that is disconnected from the realities of people's daily lives.
It could be a model of innovation borne from extensive experience at the ground level, with the variety and versatility to recognize that similar problems across the nation still are not identical, and are best solved at a local level best equipped to understand the differences.
That is what Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania is doing.
In the future, others should take note.