News

Ready for college

Published: August 13, 2011   

Katie Easley, a 2011 Mount St. Mary graduate, is ready for college with dorm accessories and 14 hours of college credit.

Katie Easley, a 2011 Mount St. Mary graduate, is ready for college with dorm accessories and 14 hours of college credit.

Katie Easley, a 2011 graduate of Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, is packing her things and anticipating her first year away at college. Planning to attend the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in the fall, this recent graduate will start college equipped with more than just the normal assortment of dormitory gear. Through the concurrent credit program with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Easley's courses at Mount St. Mary will make up 14 hours of her freshman curriculum that she will be bringing to the university, transcript in hand.

Through the concurrent credit program, MSM students may potentially earn 15 hours of college credit -- a savings of approximately $2,744 in Katie's case -- for classes that count for both high school and university requirements. MSM offers concurrent credit courses with UALR in English, biology, physics, Spanish and French.

When Diane Easley found out that her daughter had earned 14 hours from her biology, Spanish and senior English classes, she was pleasantly surprised.

"It's great because we won't have to pay for those classes, but also because the earned credit will give her the flexibility during college to lighten the load if she needs to drop a course or change a major along the way," she said.

A student dually enrolls at UALR and applies for admission as a high school concurrent student. Upon acceptance, UALR contacts the student asking for a list of the MSM courses for the year. Classes are attended as usual and all tests are conducted at the MSM campus. A transcript is requested after the completion of senior year, at which point UALR sends a transcript of all concurrent credit earned.

"It was our assumption that only schools in Arkansas would be accepting concurrent credit transcripts, but our girls are telling us that out-of-state private and public universities are accepting the credit as well," principal Diane Wolfe said.

Mount St. Mary is working to add additional courses to the eight that have already been accepted for credit.