CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The classes at Texas A&M University - Kingsville are right around the corner. This semester, university officials hope to attract more high school students to their dual enrollment program.
To do that, they are offering this free of cost.
University officials said dual enrollment gives students the chance to advance in their career.
Vice President for Student Affairs Rito Silva said now students are able to enroll at no extra cost.
“It really benefits the student in multiple ways and so to be able to get a college experience in high school is really important to do that.” Silva said.
The cost of a three hour credit course for a high school student taking dual enrollment classes decreased by 35% this year.
Now a three credit course at TAMUK costs $100.
With this new cost, the school districts TAMUK partnered with covers the full cost, making it free for students.
Miranda Joiner director of the dual enrollment program at TAMUK said with this program they have seen a slight increase in students enrolling to the program.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to explore your interests," Joiner said. "We do offer the general education core, we put them on their degree plan right away and I know there is a lot of pressure that comes with that sometimes, especially when you are a freshman (and) they don’t know what they want to do when they grow up.”
Joiner said last year they had close to three hundred students enrolled, and this year they have nearly four hundred.
Some students might feel intimidated with this experience, which can also be a contributing factor in not seeing more students enroll.
“If they do apply and they then decide not to a lot of it is due to their schedule, and that is something we even put in our orientations to consider, to find a balance we want them to of course take advantage of this opportunity, but at the right time,” Joiner said.
University officials hope hope to see more students take advantage of this unique opportunity and wants to encourage more student to enroll.
“Imagine leaving the high school and starting university with about 30 credit hours or 60 credit hours,” Silva said.
The deadline to enroll is Aug. 31, for more information on how to enroll visit here.
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