Community college offers free courses to area high school students

CRAVEN COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) -The start of the fall semester is just a few days away for students at Craven Community College. But before the first day of school, the college is reminding area high school students of a program that allows them to take college courses for free.

The Career and College Promise is a program that allows junior and senior students in Craven County Schools to take a number of college courses at no cost.

Craig Ramey, the college’s Communication Director says this is all part of what a community college is supposed to do. “We want to provide college classes for them, it allows them to get ready for college, it allows them to start building up some of those credits and it allows them to save some money,” said Ramey.

Last year there were 450 students that took advantage of the program and hundreds have signed up again. The only cost to the student is any books that might be required for their course.

Ramey says this program has been around for several years and that the college sees this as an opportunity to help students onto the next chapter of their educational journey.

“We want to provide that for them, we want to be that stepping stone that helps them get to where they want to go and we want to offer that to them as early as we can,” said Ramey.

For high school advisors, this opportunity for students is about even more than a free college level class. Toni Blount is the Coordinator for College Advising for Craven County Schools. She says it’s an opportunity for students to learn to become more independent.

“When a high school student can have that rigorous learning opportunity they are becoming an independent student, learning all those tips about how to seek advice from an instructor, use an academic skill center, check their email and be responsible for their own college level work.” said Blount.

Blount says this program is great for all students whether they are planning on pursuing a college degree or are thinking about going into a technical program after high school. It can also help when applying to colleges and for scholarships.

“The skills go well beyond classroom studies, learning how to collaborate at a college level, deeper discussions and students also get a boost to their high school GPA there is a higher quality point when a student takes college level course,” said Blount.

This year, the Career and College Promise program is offering high school students the choice between in-person learning or online courses. Any student interested in the program is encouraged to reach out to their school’s guidance counselor.

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