Welcome

College Unbound (CU) is a non-profit educational institution based in Providence, Rhode Island focused on adult learners, with additional student cohorts in Philadelphia, PA, Camden, NJ, and Chicago, IL. CU currently serves a student body of over 400 adult learners. 
 
CU helps adults re-enter and stay in college, and earn their Bachelor of Arts degree with our unique approach and comprehensive wrap around support services. College Unbound’s academic content and instruction build on a student’s prior studies, life experiences, and interests to create a student-driven curriculum.
 
Our students range in age from 19-65 and the majority work and parent full-time. Most CU students qualify for federal financial aid; and like millions of other adults, many of our students have attended multiple colleges, both in-person and online but without earning their degree.
 
Adult degree seekers require flexibility and affordability to attend college full-time while balancing their professional and personal lives. 
 
College Unbound, an accredited college, centers our student’s needs, interests, and community at the heart of their education – ensuring successful outcomes and a desire for lifelong learning.
College Unbound helps adults re-enter and stay in college and get their Bachelor of Arts degree. The academic content and instruction build on earlier studies and life experience.
 
CU is a non-profit educational institution in Providence, Rhode Island focused on adult learners.
 
Our students are aged 19-65, part of the 128,000 adults in Rhode Island with some college but no degree. Most of our students have attended multiple colleges, both in person and online. Our students need to be able to attend college full-time while working full-time and raising families. The majority make less than 45,000 per year, qualifying for Pell grants and federal loans.
 
Your interests and the needs of your workplace and community are part of your educational program. Learning takes place in the classroom, online, with peers, in the workplace, and your local community.

Vision


College Unbound models the possibilities of higher education for adults where lifelong learning is valued and enables people to be fuller participants in creating the lives to which they aspire. 

 

Mission


College Unbound's mission is to reinvent the higher education experience for underserved adult learners, using a student-driven model of rigorous and engaged scholarship.

 

Target Market


College Unbound believes everyone has a right to postsecondary education.  CU looks to serve adult learners who have not yet completed their degree and are able to participate fully in the curriculum with the necessary technology, language, writing, and other systemic supports.  CU’s program is designed for adults looking to advance in their current careers, move into new vocations, or spark change that improves the quality of life for themselves and others. 

 

 

Reach Your Goals

Our graduates improve their own lives and influence those around them:

  • Culture of Support: Enrolled students benefit from our supportive learning environment and staff dedicated to students' success. CU’s model involves peer-driven cohort support and the development of a mentor network.
  • Academic Support: Writing tutoring and support for learning disabilities.
  • Next Generation: Students are often heads of households and their learning benefits their children.
  • Wider Community: Co-curricular experiences occur naturally as offshoots of student projects and deeper community involvement. Personal transformation has ripple effects.