Five area high schools and Tulsa Community College are working together to increase the number of students completing a debt-free associate degree program.
About 190 students from across the Tulsa area are currently participating in TCC’s EDGE: Earn a Degree, Graduate Early program, which provides an opportunity for students to simultaneously earn an associate degree for free and a high school diploma.
“For me, time is the biggest gift you can get,” Union junior Daniel Flores said. “When you’re offered two years (of college) for free, it was a no-brainer.”
Union High School is set to graduate its second cohort of EDGE students in May. Memorial and McLain’s inaugural cohorts started this school year with 15 students at each campus. The first freshmen at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs and KIPP Tulsa University Prep High School will start the program in August.
With the inaugural graduating class completing an average of 63 credit hours per student, the program is showing signs of continuous growth, said Lissa Steadley, director of dual credit programs at Tulsa Community College.
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Along with the 120 eighth grade students who have applied to join the program in August, Steadley noted that leaders from another dozen school districts around the Tulsa area have expressed interest in participating.
“This is a long-term investment made in collaboration with our high schools,” she said. “It’s not fast work. When we get everybody who wants to participate, at full capacity with what we’re planning, we will be graduating 180 high school students per year.”
Students are selected as eighth graders to participate and complete a college preparatory curriculum as ninth graders before entering EDGE in the 10th grade. While in the program, students take college courses taught by TCC faculty. The courses are introduced gradually, with three for sophomores, then eight for juniors and nine for seniors. Tuition, books, fees and transportation costs are all covered by TCC and the partnering schools.
Memorial’s Sommer Baker teaches the EDGE program’s Introduction to College course to her school’s 15 freshman participants. The class was developed by TCC staff and incorporates concepts such as time management, how to speak to professors and college jargon.
Additionally, Baker’s students have visited the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State University’s Stillwater campus to help get a more tangible idea of their potential futures.
“I only have them this one year, so I want to make sure they’re ready for college,” she said. “A lot of them don’t know what a prerequisite is or what’s a credit hour or what all is involved with getting a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree.”
On top of the academic component, students get additional support from TCC, including access to its facilities, programs and advisers.
The students are also introduced to other aspects of the community college experience, including meetings with representatives from four-year institutions and figuring out how to transfer to those schools with as much earned credit as possible.
“This is a program trying to provide a chance to experience college classes with a support system,” Union College and Career Center Director Marla Robinson said. “If you’re a first-generation college student, you might not have a family member who knows how to approach this. We want to give them the chance to experience college with those supports.”
About 60% of the EDGE students at Union are first-generation college students. Additionally, according to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, less than one-third of adults over age 25 in Tulsa County have a bachelor’s degree.
Flores and several other EDGE students at Union said having access to the program’s support network, not only from TCC, but from their school and one another, has been critical to finish both degrees on time.
“It’s been a phenomenal experience,” senior Keirsten Metcalf said. “I’ve had a cohort of friends around me who are doing the same thing that I am. Because of that cohort, I can look to them and the advisers for guidance when I need it.”
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March 27, 2022 at 12:00PM
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Area high schools, TCC partner to expand degree access - Tulsa World
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