(BALTIMORE – September 28, 2026) — Maybe you left college to work. Maybe you were raising children, caring for family, or facing a bill that couldn’t wait. You earned credits, but life interrupted the degree.
Morgan State University’s latest scholarship announcement speaks directly to people in that position. The Crankstart Foundation has renewed an $800,000, four-year grant to help adult learners return and earn their first bachelor’s degree. Morgan’s Center for Continuing and Professional Studies has administered the scholarship since 2016.
But the announcement opens a larger conversation for anyone who has ever said, “I need to go back and finish.” What, exactly, are you trying to finish?
Morgan already has an initiative built around that question. Morgan Completes You, housed in its College of Interdisciplinary and Continuing Studies, offers degree-completion programs at three levels: eight bachelor’s, five master’s, and five doctoral programs. Launched in 2021, it was designed for adults whose education was interrupted.
The Crankstart scholarship and Morgan Completes You serve different purposes. One provides financial assistance to eligible students working toward a first bachelor’s degree. The other offers academic paths for adults with unfinished degrees. Together, they show how seriously Morgan is thinking about people who want to return to school.
If you have college credits but no bachelor’s degree, Morgan Completes You says applicants to its interdisciplinary bachelor’s programs need at least 60 undergraduate credits. Students may transfer up to 90 credits and work with an adviser on a path to graduation. Eligible adults pursuing their first bachelor’s degree can also ask Morgan about the Crankstart scholarship.
If you earned a bachelor’s but left a master’s degree unfinished, Morgan Completes You offers five interdisciplinary master’s programs. Applicants need a completed bachelor’s degree and at least 15 credits of previous graduate coursework.
And if you made it nearly all the way through a doctorate, Morgan has five doctoral completion programs designed for students who finished their required coursework but still need to complete a dissertation. That stage is often called ABD: all but dissertation.
That is what makes this story bigger than a grant announcement. Around a kitchen table or a water fountain, “I’m thinking about going back to school” can mean three very different things. Morgan has completion options at each level.
The $800,000 Crankstart investment may help more adults take that first step toward a bachelor’s degree. It also gives the rest of us a reason to have the conversation: How far did you get, and what would it take to finish?
For information about Morgan Completes You, contact the College of Interdisciplinary and Continuing Studies at mcy@morgan.edu or 443-885-4779. For questions about the Crankstart scholarship, contact the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies at 443-885-3155.
