OC provides scholarships for dual credit

Some low-income high school students in the Odessa won’t have to start paying for dual credit courses after all.

Odessa College officials presented checks for $10,000 in scholarship money to the principals of Permian and Odessa high schools Monday. The money pays for students at the schools to take collegeNOW dual credit classes at OC that go toward graduation in both high school and college.

“Many of the students at OHS and Permian actually start college as sophomores,” OC Vice President for Student Services David Bauske said. “It’s a tremendous program. We do everything we possibly can to encourage it.”

In addition to the Ector County Independent School District high schools, 13 other schools in OC’s service area will split up an additional $30,000 in scholarship money, with the amount of funding based on how many students the schools have sent to Odessa College in the past, Bauske said.

ECISD has 785 students enrolled in collegeNOW in the spring semester, collegeNOW director Gregory McDaniel said.

Permian Principal Roy Garcia said enrollment in collegeNow continues to “double and double” in his three years at Permian.

“I know sometimes the perception is we have a lot of kids with money, but we have a lot of kids with need,” he said.

Odessa High Principal Denise Shetter said collegeNOW has helped the school add to academic programs like International Baccalaureate and Advancement via Individual Determination.

“This is going to help us, not only in planning the dream, but starting that first step toward achievement,” Shetter said.

OC offered dual credit to ECIISD students for free this year as part of a pilot project, but with the Texas Legislature prepared to cut between $2.5 million and $3 million in state funding to the school in the next fiscal year, OC will start charging tuition sliding scale in the fall. Students at other school districts in OC’s service area paid $75 for each three-hours they took on their home campus and $120 for web classes.

OC President Gregory Williams said the college would try to find more money to help the high schools, if needed.

“We’re having to do things differently, and we’re having to change a lot of things, but we know this is important,” he said.

A decision on whether the University of Texas of the Permian Basin continues to offer free tuition on dual-credit courses in the fall has yet to be made. But Katherine Phillips, UTPB admissions counselor, said funding in place through the Texas Virtual School Network will allow for free tuition on dual credit classes for incoming high school juniors and seniors in the summer.

How much the state will continue to fund that program remains uncertain, she said.

“With everything with education, we’re just unsure,” Phillips said.

@OAschools