UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College is a longtime supporter of dual credit course offerings, said Timothy Thomas, MVCC’s assistant vice president for learning and academic affairs.

“We have long been a huge champion of dual credit course work in high school,” Thomas said.

But recent shifts in revenues and expenses at MVCC are putting the pressure on continuing to offer the dual credit courses at no expense to the students or their home districts. Not wanting to impose a new tuition charge for the students or their families — realizing that sudden expense might force them to give up on taking those courses —MVCC is proposing a $40 per student service charge on dual credit courses.

That charge would be paid by their home school districts, rather than the students themselves or their families, Thomas said. MVCC is still reaching out to the participating school districts to see which will be willing to take on that expense, he added.

Much of the current pressure is actually due to the MVCC dual credit program being so efficient, Thomas intimated, because its efficiency actually leaves very little “fat” to be trimmed as they try to eliminate any extra expenditures.

MVCC’s dual credit program is a community service for area high school students across Oneida, Madison and Onondaga counties, giving them the opportunity to earn advanced standing or college credit for college classes they take in their own home high school. Those students will usually enroll in either 100-  to 200-level college courses that are taught by qualified high school teachers, all pre-approved as adjunct instructors by MVCC, Thomas said.

The courses are identical to those offered on the MVCC campus but all schoolwork is done in the home high school setting rather than on campus.

This program lets students earn both college and high school credit for the same course. The curriculum offers motivated students a wider selection of courses, an alternative to taking Advanced Placement courses and a seamless transition to college-level coursework, all while potentially providing the means of saving tuition money in the future.

“It saves them a tremendous amount of money and proves to them they can do college work,” Thomas said. “This is blurring the line between high school and college. Our hope is that they use this for something much bigger in the future.”

To take the dual credit courses, students should see their own guidance counselors.

For more information on MVCC’s dual credit program, call 315-792-5500, email dualcredit@mvcc.ed or visit www.mvcc.edu.