Students at Rhode Island's three public colleges may be able to complete their degrees in three years, thanks to legislation introduced last month by Rep. Joseph McNamara D-Dist. 19, which includes Cranston and Warwick. The program will reduce the price of a college degree and allow students to enter the workforce more quickly.
McNamara described the bill - the Rhode Island Bachelor's Degree in Three Program Act - in a news conference last Tuesday, according to a press release. The legislation would allow students matriculating at the Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College or the University of Rhode Island to receive college credit for advanced placement, dual enrollment and other college-level courses taken during high school. These programs could "shave a year off" students' college education and reduce their tuition costs, according to a statement released by the State House.
Under McNamara's proposal, the state Board of Governors for Higher Education would complete preliminary planning by Feb. 1, 2010 and the program would go into effect the following academic year.
Though local high schools already collaborate with the state's public colleges, developing a three-year program would "allow students to utilize the credit-bearing courses more fully," McNamara said in the statement.
"A college education is the best way for young people to advance themselves in this globalized world. Not only will a three-year program benefit students, the state will benefit as well," he said.
The proposal - which was discussed in a House committee hearing last Wednesday - seems to be garnering support among state leaders in education. President Robert Caruthers of URI, President Nancy Carriuolo of RIC and President Ray DiPasquale of CCRI all support the measure, according to the release.
Furthermore, Jack Warner, commissioner of the Rhode Island Office of Higher Education, testified in favor of the legislation. Warner believes there are "significant benefits" to allowing students who are "ready to move ahead" earn college credits while they are still enrolled in high school, wrote Steve Maurano, the Board of Governors' associate commissioner for external affairs, in an e-mail to The Herald.
Maurano wrote that the board has seen "strong evidence" of positive trends in dual enrollment programs in recent years.
"For many upper-class and high-achieving students, the ability to access dual enrollment courses appears to give many of them a more rigorous and stimulating academic challenge (than) their regular high school courses," he wrote. For low-income students or students at risk of dropping out of high school, dual enrollment classes "expose them to college-level work and give them motivation and hope that they can succeed in college," he added.
