Posted: 6:00 a.m.Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015

Pathways expand for early college credit

By Jeremy P. Kelley and Hannah Poturalski

Staff Writers
 

    A week after President Barack Obama calledfor access to free community college nationwide, state officials are trying todraw attention to an already-available Ohioprogram that lets high school students earn college credit for free.

Bothinitiatives are aimed at giving more students access to college at a time whenrising tuition closes doors to some families, or forces students to prop thosedoors open via heavy debt loads.

    G. Michael Pratt, associate provost anddean of Miami University Regionals, said Obama’s proposal for free communitycollege is “highly speculative” at this time. He said there remains a lot ofunknowns about the program and whether it will move forward.

    “We’d be concerned opening up a programlike this might just shift existing students from their first two years atregionals or four-year colleges to a community college,” Pratt said.

    Pratt said he’s also concerned the plan forfree community college could impact students on federal pell grants. But Prattsaid one positive from the plan could be more students earning associatedegrees and wanting to stay in school to complete a bachelor’s degree.

    “It could be beneficial in the long run,”Pratt said.

Butwhile the president’s proposal is in its infancy — with no guarantee it willsurvive a legislative debate — Ohio’s College Credit Plus program became law inJune, and has a fast-approaching April 1 deadline for students to opt-in fornext fall’s classes.

    “Under College Credit Plus, the state willpay for public high school students’ college as long as they’re eligible,” saidLauren McGarity, director of special projects for the Ohio Board of Regents.“One of the best arguments for students and parents is, the more collegecourses you take while in high school (under CCP), the more dollars you’llsave.”

    Ohio public school districts and publiccolleges are required by law to offer College Credit Plus starting this fall,and private high schools and colleges can choose to opt-in, according to theOhio Department of Education. The private school model may require the studentto shoulder some cost, but significantly less than they would on a traditionalcollege path.

    Dirk Allen, director of admissions at Badin High School,said the Catholic high school in Hamiltonhas a positive view of the College Credit Plus program but still needs to getmore information on how it will work.

    “We hope to be involved but we still haveto get a lot more information,” Allen said.

    College Credit Plus will replace thestate’s existing early credit programs — the Post Secondary Enrollment Option(PSEO), where students travel to a college to take classes, and dual-enrollmentalternatives, where students take classes for college credit at their highschool, online, or under some other local arrangement.

    DeAnn Hurtado, associate dean of theSinclair Community College Courseview Campus in Mason, said as a parent of twocollege students herself, both of whom earned early credits in high school, sheknows the importance and cost savings that can come from getting a head start oncollege.

    “It’s nice to avoid some of the costs ofthe first year,” Hurtado said.

    Hurtado said the goal of College CreditPlus is to create a structured way for families and students to easily accessand understand the college-credit opportunities available to them.

    “The existing programs are not very wellpublicized and easy to understand for families,” Hurtado said. “This simplifiesthe system for people to take advantage of.”

    CCP will offer the same flexibility oflocation, but with more standardized rules than the current system, whichMcGarity said could “make you pull your hair out.”

    But while CCP will offer more availabilityeverywhere, it comes with one important, tougher requirement. It is a truedual-enrollment program that requires the student to apply to, and be acceptedby an Ohiocollege in order to simultaneously earn high school and college credit.Students can apply to a college in any grade from 7-12.

    That’s one piece that has local highschools and colleges sweating, because college admission standards for CCPstudents, many of whom may be halfway through high school, are still beingworked on.

University of Dayton officials declined to comment for thisstory, saying the admissions department was still studying the matter.

    “It’s really important to get informationout to the students, and get everyone working together, because this is areally tight deadline for fall 2015,” said Thomas Sudkamp, Wright State’svice president for curriculum and instruction. Sudkamp said people are in“panic mode,” adding that setting up the admission standards is the biggestcurrent challenge.

    Marianne Cotugno, faculty director at MiamiUniversity Middletown, said it’s her understanding that CCP students would haveto reapply to attend the university full time after graduating high school.

    “We’ve long been involved with offeringcollege credit,” Cotugno said. “We have good existing relationships withdistricts.”

    Cotugno said this past fall there were 483students completing PSEO at the regional campuses, and another 86 indual-enrollment courses at Warren County Career Services and in Centerville.

    Cotugno said the university alreadypractices many of the requirements of College Credit Plus, including classroomobservations and assigning advisers to the high school students.

    Keith Millard, assistant superintendent ofinstruction for Hamilton City Schools, said each year there are between 125 and150 students in the district gaining college credit through advanced placementclasses and dual credit and post secondary enrollment options with MiamiUniversity Hamilton and Clark State Community College.

    “It helps families and Ohio needs more citizens in the stateearning college degrees,” Millard said.

Underthe new College Credit Plus umbrella, “districts will be absorbing more costs,”Millard said. Previously students paid a determined amount per credit hour fordual enrollment, and districts paid the cost for post secondary. Now districtswill cover both costs.

    But tuition costs will be negotiatedbetween the college and public school district, with an established a floor of$40 and ceiling of $160 per credit hour.

The student perspective

    While the details of the program arechanging, Ohiohigh school students have been earning college credit for years.

Fairfield High School senior BrendenO’Brien said he’s currently earning college and high school credit for theEnglish course he’s taking. His college credit is through Cincinnati State.

    “It’s challenging but it’s funchallenging,” O’Brien said. “I don’t mind working that much harder in highschool to make it easier next year.”

    O’Brien said he was attracted to thedual-credit course after finding out from his high school teacher it would bemore writing focused than reading.

    “I enjoy writing; I can show what’screative, what’s on my mind,” O’Brien said.

    The 18-year-old Fairfield resident said he plans to attendcollege in the fall to study engineering. He’s gotten a couple letters ofacceptance but he’s waiting on a couple more before deciding.

    Hurtado said colleges and universities willbe sending course catalogs to students in February. She said the courses aretypically in general education areas such as English, psychology, mathematicsand increasingly in engineering and business.

    “If you take these classes in high school,you’re better prepared in college to take the next-level class,” Hurtado said.

COLLEGE CREDIT PLUS

What: Eligible students can take college-level courses to earnhigh school and college credit simultaneously.

Who: Ohio students in grades7-12 who apply to a participating Ohiocollege and are accepted.

Where: All Ohiopublic school districts and public colleges must participate, and privateschools and colleges can opt-in. Courses can be taught at the college bycollege professors, or at the high school by teachers who earn adjunctprofessor status. Classes can also be taken online, if the college offers themthat way.

When: CCP takes effect for the 2015-16 school year. Schooldistricts must offer information sessions explaining the program by March 1,and students must declare their intention to participate by April 1.

Why: Ohio officials want morecollege graduates, and they say this program — which replaces existing PSEO anddual enrollment systems — will give more students inexpensive access tocollege.

Cost: There is no cost to students if they are enrolled in an Ohio public college oruniversity. The high school and the college split the cost, which can rangefrom $40 to $160 per credit hour, well below standard college costs. Privatecolleges that choose to participate will negotiate a cost within the $40 to$160 window, and may charge the student some portion of that amount.

Sources:Ohio Department of Education, OhioBoard of Regents