A west suburban school district is mulling a partnership with a community college that would see students earning college credit for free.
Elgin Area School District U-46 could become the latest to partner with Elgin Community College and its Accelerate College program, the Daily Herald reports. The program started last fall and included 38 high school students from Algonquin-based Community District 300 in addition to St. Charles Unit District 303.
Citing officials, the paper says students who participated in the program during the fall semester saved $64,750 in tuition.
Under an Accelerate College program like District 300’s, the newspaper reports, some students would be eligible for a tuition-free senior year of college. Work done by a high school student in a community college would be transferrable to public students throughout the state, the Daily Herald reports.
For a student to be eligible, they must be in their junior year, have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, “meet college readiness requirements -- based on ECC placement tests or cut scores on the ACT or SAT in reading, writing, and mathematics -- and have a good attendance record in high school,” the newspaper reports.
Students can take English, math science, social science, behavioral science, fine arts, and humanities at Elgin Community College—and they must take a College 101 class, the paper reports.
