BALTIMORE — You don't need an education to make a living but it significantly improves your odds.
Now there's a new spot to get that education....for free.
On Thursday Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake opened its Excel Center.
The downtown Baltimore school helps adults 21 years or older get their high school diploma.
The nonprofit says people who drop out of high school earn 70% less than those who graduate.
For several students the opportunity is enormous.
"I love to learn, but every school that I went to, I could not control what happened around me. I could just do my best at what I do. But I couldn't do my best because of the people that were around me. So i just disparted myself from those individuals, which made me drop out all of those times. But every year I did decide to go back, but I just didn't finish. And that stops this year," said Shamar Rice, a student at the Excel Center.
The center has extra services to help working adults get to and stay in class.
This includes free childcare and transportation assistance.
Their first class will have 150 students in it.
They plan to expand that in the coming years.
