Retired Country Financial CEO John Blackburn took over as Lincoln College President on Aug. 1, 2012. (Photo by Todd Lowery/WJBC)

By Eric Stock

NORMAL - A man with a business background hopes to help more college students start their own businesses.

John Blackburn, who recently retired from Country Financial as its Chief Executive Officer, is President of Lincoln College. The four-year school has launched its Capstone program. It enables students who have already obtained an Associate’s degree in Applied Science to get a Bachelor's degree at an accelerated pace.

Students take one course at a time, meeting one evening per week over a five-week period. The program is intended to enable students to complete up to 27 credits per year.

Blackburn said the goal is to help working adults adapt their specialized training to a business plan that might enable them to work in a management position of possible open their own business.

"We are finding these to be very attractive. We'll also partner with some community colleges to offer those degrees on those campuses," Blackburn said.

Blackburn says Lincoln College is working with two-year colleges across Central Illinois to enable students at those schools to make their credits transferable.

Capstone currently offers Bachelor's degrees in Applied Management in Entrepreneurship and in Applied Science in Organizational Leadership

Capstone was created last summer. It's a part of Lincoln College's Accelerated Bridge to Education (ABE) program.

PODCAST: Here is Todd Lowery's interview with Blackburn on WJBC.

Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.