With the increasing amount of debt college students will have to endure on their road to a bachelor’s degree, saving every little penny along the way helps. Thanks to Northwest Vista College’s Dual Credit program with local high schools, students and their families are saving millions of dollars.
The NVC Dual Credit team recently compiled data on 2,939 high school graduating seniors who took Dual Credit classes in 2010-2011 at the college. The total savings for graduating seniors using the Alamo Colleges tuition/fees rate is estimated to be over $17 million. Students who returned to NVC saved a projected $5.4 million from their previously-earned college credit. These students will not have to stay in college as long as their peers who did not participate in the NVC Dual Credit program.
The data tracked students within 13 Northside ISD high schools and two Boerne ISD high schools. The academic subjects most commonly taken by these students were English, followed by Math. This group took 36,544 college credits through the NVC Dual Credit Program and 35 percent returned to NVC after graduating from high school.
“This data has highlighted something we have known for years and I’m excited that we can finally share the successes of our program,” said Lenny M. Arredondo, NVC special projects coordinator.
In addition to the Dual Credit program saving students’ money, it also saves the Alamo Colleges money, especially in a time of state budget cuts to most educational institutions. Dual Credit students do not take up parking, classroom space or utilize other operations/services provided by a college campus on a daily basis. Plus effective fall 2012, Dual Credit students taking courses that are mixed with other college students—versus taking the courses offered through their high school campus—will be charged full tuition and fees at the regular rate. This new policy will provide the college with a slight revenue increase to cover daily costs.