Students contemplate between 2 year and 4 year colleges
With the cost of education rising, two-year colleges could start becoming a lot more attractive.
It would seem like an opportunity for students looking for affordable options to continue their educations after high school.
The University of Louisiana of Monroe has entered into agreements with Delta, Bossier Parish and Hinds community colleges.
It states that general education courses taken at the community colleges will fall perfectly in line with core classes offered at the four year university.
The idea is that students who, for whatever reason, cannot enter or are not ready to enter ULM can take their first two years (approximately 60 hours) at a junior college.
Upon completion of their hours at the community college, they can transfer as juniors to the university without ever missing a beat and still graduate in four years.
Carl Thameling, head of the Communications department at ULM, assisted the university by helping write a curriculum that two year colleges could follow.
Because instructors like Thameling are writing the curriculums for the junior colleges, university administrators feel that students will be every bit as prepared to take 3000 and 4000 level classes as the students who took their basics at ULM.
“We’re thinking they’ll be fine,” said Thameling about incoming junior college students.
“Public Speaking, for example, they could take at their college and then transfer the credit here.”
These two-and-two agreements not only provide an easier path for students to transfer into ULM, but the hope from university administration is that university populations will also increase.
While the two year schools may meet specific social, financial, educational or distance needs, an easy transition to a four year school may encourage more students to consider getting a four year degree.
The result would be an influx of students into the general population.
This would allow for more incoming funds to the university and more graduates being produced by the university.
Not only could these two-and-two agreements benefit the university, but students strapped for cash could also benefit by first enrolling in a two year college.
According to data found on the websites of each four colleges involved (ULM, Delta, BPCC and Hinds), the tuition differences are significant.
The total tuition and fees required to pay for one semester of school at any of the three junior colleges roughly equates to half that required by ULM.
This means that students of junior colleges who then transfer after two years to ULM would pay half the money as students who spent four years at ULM.
Meanwhile they would still, theoretically, receive the same education.
