While many ideas on making college more affordable are swirling around in the media, Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) and Dickinson College are doing something about it. The Community College Partnership Program merges the strengths of two different categories of institutions, a community college and a private, national liberal arts college, to create a new model of higher education—one that offers students a quality four-year education at a reasonable price. Students will pay two years of community college tuition, and two years at Dickinson’s higher tuition, but with an academic scholarship of up to $15,000—plus other grants and financial aid—to meet fully their demonstrated need.
The benefits of The Community College Partnership Program go well beyond typical articulation agreements between community and four-year colleges. This new model takes an active, coordinated and structured approach that is distinctive in two key areas. The first is interested students are identified early so Montgomery and Dickinson staff, working together, can ensure the selected students receive the support, coaching and course work needed to transfer and be successful. The other is the financial incentives from Dickinson, in the form of a community college scholarship and financial aid, to ensure that tuition is neither a deterrent nor obstacle.
"Montgomery County Community College's partnership with Dickinson College provides an exceptional transfer opportunity for high-achieving students who have demonstrated a commitment to learning and community engagement through our highly-competitive Honors Program," said Karen A. Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College. "A partnership with an elite liberal arts institution like Dickinson is a testament to the dedication and excellence of our faculty and academic achievement of our students."
"Montgomery County Community College Honor Program students will be attracted to Dickinson’s smaller classes, engaged professors, and our commitment to civic engagement, the environment and sustainability—characteristics both institutions share," said William G. Durden, president of Dickinson College. "Dickinson professors challenge their students to seize every learning opportunity—not only in the classroom, but also through fieldwork and research both in Carlisle and abroad. This international emphasis means MCCC students will acquire a global understanding, a perspective that is vital in today’s world."
In addition to Montgomery County Community College, Dickinson has established Community College Partnerships with Howard Community College and Montgomery College in Maryland and Northampton Community College and Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania. The college's goal is to expand the program to 10 or 15 community college; half in the Mid-Atlantic states and half in other areas of the country where Dickinson currently recruits first-year students.
The program will launch with four or five honors program students from each of the five pilot community college partners. Potential matriculants must earn a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.25 and graduate with a transferable associate’s degree to enable students to matriculate with junior status and complete a bachelor’s of arts or sciences degree at Dickinson in two years. Students will enter Dickinson as a group, a strategy that is similar to other cohort groups on campus. The idea is that students adjust and perform better when they have a built-in support system and all the members are going through a similar experience. While some transfers will take place this year, a distinctive feature of this program is the close working relationship of both institutions with select students. The full benefit of this approach will be realized in 2010.
As community colleges have developed selective honors programs, more students who would have previously begun at a four-year colleges are instead beginning their higher education at a community college. In the U.S., demographic changes forecast that over the next ten years community colleges will need to educate an increasing number of lower income, first generation and minority students. Those same demographic shifts will affect private four-year colleges, as these students are less likely to consider these institutions or to enroll as first-year students.
