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	Easley Touts Education at Annual Meeting By Kati Knowland March 26, 2008 One remedy for this problem is Easley's Learn and Earn program, which allows high school students to stay in school for five years and graduate with both a high school diploma and a two-year associate degree. Moving those programs online will increase access to and interest in the program, according to Easley. The new Earn grants, which allow graduates from the Learn and Earn program whose families make less than $42,000 a year to work during summers and to ultimately graduate from a state university debt-free, help move students even beyond the high school diploma and associate degree. "That's big. That's huge. … That's going to give us the competitive edge that we need, and the rest of the country needs to follow for America to continue to be a country of creativity and innovation. A country that leads the world." As he closed, Easley enlisted the help of the business community to do three things — thank their legislators for their work, continue to build the partnership between business and education, and spread the word about the programs that are available. "If you can do those three things, then together I know we can have a stronger, better, newer, improved North Carolina tomorrow than we have today. And we all have to get up every single day with that commitment." Kati Knowland is the Editor of NC Magazine and can be reached at kknowland@ncmagazine.com.
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