Owen Morley is a junior at the Brown School who has already started thinking out his future.
“I’m really interested in music, art, or videography,” Morley said.
He’s part of SUNY Schenectady’s early college program, which allows high school students to earn real college credits. Unlike advanced placement classes, as long as the students pass, they get the credit.
What You Need To Know
- A SUNY Schenectady pre-college program allows high school students to get real college credit as long as they pass the course
- It’s different than AP classes, because there is no high-stakes exam that determines if students get the credit
- There are four area schools partnering with SCCC in the program
“AP is a high-stakes exam which they take a class all year long, and then at the end, they take an exam, and they have to get a 3 or better in order for it to transfer,” says Pamela McCall, the Director of College and High School Partnerships at SUNY Schenectady. “These courses, the students sit in it for 16 weeks, they do well during the whole time, and at the end, they get a grade and that’s on their transcripts, and they can take that to whatever institution they have.”
Owen says the program is giving him the confidence he’ll need after graduation.
“I think that it definitely helps the transition to college. It’s definitely loosened my nerves and it’s helped with my confidence about going to college,” Morley said.
From what she has seen, McCall says students in this program are more successful and are graduating at a higher rate.
“A lot of students don’t think they can do this, or maybe they’re first generation or they don’t have anybody else who has been through college, so it really helps them to get a cohort of students together and really push themselves to do more,” McCall said.
Right now, there are four area schools partnering with this program, and SUNY Schenectady plans to expand it due to its success.