Bill McKinney

I am a first generation college graduate, and while I was not an adult learner, my late father, W.R. McKinney, was. He found himself $100 short of re-enrolling for his engineering studies at Penn State in the mid-1950s. 

One hundred dollars is a lot for most students, even today.Considering 70 years of inflation, the $100 for my father is equivalent to roughly $1200 today. Bridging that financial gap is a tall order for many students. Unable to do so, my father enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served in Korea, was honorably discharged, and returned to the states, where he worked heavy construction and plumbing.  

Shortly thereafter, he met Virginia Feudale, his future spouse, and my mother. When he told her that he was looking for another job, she told him that Gulf Oil was hiring lab technicians and that, since he excelled in high school chemistry, that he might be a good fit. 

Times have certainly changed! Working as an entry-level lab tech without a post-secondary credential was very possible in the late 50’s and early 60’s. 

 He was soon hired by Gulf’s main research laboratory outside of Pittsburgh, where his talent was recognized. Gulf paid for him to return to his studies, in the evenings, at a Penn State branch campus. He was making progress toward his degree, but like many adult learners, “life happens.” In this case, I happened. My father’s focus soon turned to the needs of his young and growing family, and he ceased his studies, again.

In the decades that followed, he built a thriving career without a post-secondary credential. He was quite successful, but only to a point. There was always that limit past which he could not advance. He lacked his degree, but had no lack of experience and industry credentials. Had greater access to alternate credentials and credit for prior learning been available to my father, it is hard to predict how much further he could have gone.

His life story has always motivated me. American higher education continues to be a force for the positive transformation of individual’s lives and, subsequently, those of their families and communities.