August 7, 2017
ECCC Announces Pilot of Tiered-Tuition Dual Credit Program for Classes Taught at the Local High School
Responding to a need in its five-county district, East Central Community College in Decatur has announced the creation of a one-year pilot program of a tiered-tuition rate for its Dual Credit Program for the upcoming high school academic year.
The ECCC Board of Trustees approved the pilot program at its June meeting on campus.
Dual credit courses included in this one-year pilot program are those ECCC courses taught at local high schools by teachers employed by the school district. Those teachers must meet all institutional and accreditation requirements for teaching a particular course and use the same syllabus and instructional materials that are used in the respective classes taught on campus at ECCC.
Under the pilot tiered-tuition rate Dual Credit Program, high school students taking dual credit courses taught by the local high school instructor on the campus of the local high school will pay $100 tuition for each three-hour course and $125 tuition for each four-hour course. The tuition cost includes the instructional materials required for the course—either textbooks or access codes to online materials and e-books. This tiered-tuition rate is possible due to the cost-sharing of the instructor by the college and the local high school. The tiered-tuition rate program is not applicable to online dual credit courses at this time.
“We were presented with a need in our community, particularly from the local high schools, and we responded with a pilot program we believe benefits the high school students, their families, the school systems in our district, and East Central Community College,” said Dr. Billy Stewart, ECCC president.
“Our mission is to serve the educational and training needs of Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott, and Winston counties, and one way we do this is through a Dual Credit Program. We will pilot this tiered-tuition rate program during the 2017-18 school year, during which time we will evaluate the program to determine if it is indeed meeting the needs of our district high school students as well as our college.”
Dual credit courses offered by ECCC for the 2017-18 academic year include English Composition I and II, World Literature I and II, U.S. History I and II, Biology I with Lab, Biology II with Lab, Physical Science I with Lab, Physical Science II with Lab, College Algebra, Trigonometry, Music Appreciation, and Psychology.
Students successfully completing dual credit courses can earn up to 28 academic credit hours towards the completion of an ECCC degree or for transfer to another public two-year or four-year college or university.
ECCC has nearly 400 high school students taking dual credit courses this fall at 16 high schools in the five-county district.
Schools in ECCC’s five-county district interested in dual credit opportunities at ECCC can contact Dr. Teresa Houston, vice president for instruction, at 601-635-6203 or thouston@eccc.edu.
