In a step aimed at easing the matriculation of students from a two-year college to a four-year university, N.C. State and Wake Tech Community College have created a new inter-institutional program, The Partnership for Access to College.
Beginning next spring, the program will guarantee admission to N.C. State for successful applicants who maintain at least a 3.0 GPA and are taking 12 credit hours, according to Laurie Clowers, a spokesperson for Wake Tech.
“The program attempts to provide a seamless transition,” Clowers said. “We want to give them a great foundation to start. And of course we always want them to go on to a four-year university.”
Students in the program will also have access to specialized advising by University and Wake Tech advisors, she said, and these students can enroll in one of a limited number of University courses per semester while paying Wake Tech’s student fees.
Myron Burney, assistant director of Undergraduate Admissions, said the new program could help students pay less for their education.
“With the economy the way it is, this is a great way to save money before coming to NCSU,” Burney said. “Interest for the program is high. It’s one of many options for students who are focused and starting to plan out the process.”
The University is making the right move in creating another way for students to get a degree, Mary Kathryn Perkinson, a senior in political science, said.
“Public education has a responsibility to help people attain a good education,” Perkinson said. “It’s the American ideal. There’s been a lot of attention on community colleges to educate those who start out with less, but who are eventually trying to reach a four-year university. This is a positive step.”
Though admission into the University is guaranteed for students enrolled in the program, the attainment of an associate’s degree before matriculating is a prerequisite, according to Clowers.
And if accepted into the program, students “will get their names on a list for early identification [so] that they want to become part of the Wolfpack family,” Clowers said.
There are 58 community colleges in the state, according to the N.C. Community College System Web site, and Wake Tech is the University’s main partner.
“Wake Tech is the largest feeder for us,” Burney. “North Carolina has a lot of community colleges. We want to be one of the universities that extends our hand to them.”
According to Clowers, students attending community colleges before entering a University is becoming more common.
“Five hundred to 600 students transfer to four-year universities each year,” Clowers noted. “And that number is growing.”
There is a big incentive for students to join the program too, she said.
“It’s guaranteed,” she said. “What could be better than that?”
