Applications for the proposed early college magnet program at Whale Branch High School, opening next fall in Seabrook, will be available in January if the Technical College of the Lowcountry Commission approves the project at its meeting Tuesday.
The Beaufort County Board of Education gave final approval to the project earlier this month after district staff detailed anticipated costs, projected enrollment, courses of study and a timeline for launching the program.
The college and district boards gave initial approval in September to a model that will compress the time it takes students to earn a high school diploma and complete the first two years of college. The plan would allow students to graduate from high school with a diploma and an associate's degree or college certificate from TCL after four years.
Anticipated Costs
Courses offered through the early college program will be free to students, said Sean Alford, the district's instructional services chief. The school district and TCL will pay costs associated with college-level classes.
Students will be encouraged to take six hours of college classes each semester so they qualify for S.C. Lottery Tuition Assistance, Alford said. With the lottery assistance, the cost per student for six credit hours -- usually two courses -- is $115.
TCL will cover most administrative costs for college courses taught by a Whale Branch teacher at Whale Branch High. The district will pay to send students to the TCL campus for classes.
Whale Branch High will offer college-level classes on-site if there is a sufficient demand, Alford said. But most students will have to travel to TCL at some point for higher-level classes that are too expensive to duplicate at Whale Branch.
The district listed other costs affiliated with the program in its report to the board:
• $12,096 per year to bus students three times a week to TCL's Beaufort campus.
• About $100 per student per class for college-level textbooks. The books will be reused.
• $40,000 for staff, transportation, supplies and janitorial services during a summer readiness program for an estimated 120 students.
Projected enrollment
The early college program will be open to any county student that exceeds certain benchmarks on TCL's entrance exam, Alford said.
The program will serve all students in the designated Whale Branch High School attendance area, which has not yet been approved by the school board. Public information sessions on high school attendance zones will be scheduled early next year before the board draws the boundaries.
The projected population for the school is 423 students in grades nine through 11 for the 2010-11 school year. Whale Branch High will not serve seniors during its first year.
The school's capacity is 650, and the district expects enrollment to grow to 645 students by 2013.
Alford said he expects a small number of students from the southern part of the county will apply for the early college program, based on responses during parent information sessions in the Bluffton area.
Transportation plans for those students will depend on how many students from the southern Beaufort County apply, he said.
Summer preparation
Alford said the TCL entrance exam will be administered to some eighth-graders this month and next to give the district an idea of how many students will be ready to begin college-level classes next fall.
Students must score at a certain level to be admitted to the early college program, but aren't required to pass the test as an eighth-grader. Students must pass the entrance exam before they can beginning earning college credit, however.
Career counseling and academic coaching services will be offered to help high school students pass the entrance exam and complete college-level work, Alford said.
"The whole focus of the organization is going to be access to post-secondary study," Alford said. "If we can start them off in college now, the odds are they'll continue."
Rising ninth-graders will be required to participate in a readiness class during June and July The program -- from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday -- will include classes in math, writing, reading, technology and college and career readiness, as well as college visits to schools in South Carolina and Georgia.
Students probably will need to take summer classes each year to earn enough credits for a full associate's degree, Alford said.
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