By Eric Dresden | The Saginaw News
KOCHVILLE TWP. — The Great Lakes Bay Early College is preparing to enroll its first 160 students, giving them the chance to earn up to 60 college credits during high school, at no cost to them.
Marlene Searles, director of the program housed at Saginaw Valley State University, said she is making presentations across the region so that students and parents can learn more about the college and apply for the fall semester.
In their first semester, students will take English, math, science and social studies classes taught by Great Lakes Bay Early College instructors, who will gauge where they are in their learning. The next semester, if they are ready, they will enroll in college courses at SVSU.
Searles said the college also is attempting to set up a relationship for students with Delta College and Davenport University.
The Great Lakes Bay Early College students would not attend courses at their home school, though organizers hope classes will end each day by 3 p.m. so teens can participate in extracurricular activities in their home districts.
“They would stay with us junior year, senior year, and they could, if they wanted to, stay one extra year,” Searles said.
The benefit to staying on would be that students wouldn’t have to pay for tuition that year, and they would be able to walk in their graduation at their high school. The college would hold onto their high school diploma until they finish the extra year.
Richard D. Syrek, superintendent of Saginaw Intermediate School District, said the opportunity is good for students, giving them another academic option and keeping them in the area, he said.
“It gives young people chances to get a science and technology background, and those are the type of jobs in the area,” Syrek said.
Informational meetings are planned to take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 1 at St. Charles High School; March 2 at the Saginaw Intermediate School District Building, 6235 Gratiot; March 8 and 9 at the Regional Education Center in the Ott Auditorium at SVSU; and March 16 in the Freeland High School cafeteria.
Organizers expect to add more dates in Saginaw, Bay and Midland counties in March and April. The college has partnered with schools in all three counties, she said.
“We are working out agreements with all the local school districts to have their students attend, and we are working on timelines and schedules to get those students to attend,” she said.
Students will fill apply, and the college will hold a lottery to decide who attends the college in the fall.
Searles called the early college, a chance to accrue college credits during high school, a “supported transition.”
Carrollton School District Superintendent Craig Douglas said he thinks the program is a good one, though he has questions about the logistics, such as students providing their own transportation.
“We have four slots,” he said. “I don’t have any idea whether we’ll have 40 applicants or none. I don’t know how it will be received.”
The college received a $400,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Education. Once students start at the school, Searles said, they have an agreement where the college will get 85 percent of the funding the students’ home school districts receive for that student.
“That’s what we’re using to pay the teachers, purchase tuition and really rent space and facilities at the universities,” Searles said.
The model is sustainable, she said, but the college will seek private support, as well. She said as the school grows, backers hope enrollment peaks at 400 students.
“It’s really truly about college readiness, because we want to participate in helping reduce remediation rates in freshmen who enter college,” Seales said.
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