LSUE is 1 of 44 colleges tapped for high school enrollment program

LSUE is one of 44 post-secondary institutions selected as an experimental site for a U.S. Department of Education program aimed at increasing college graduation rates by allowing high school students to enroll in the college.
About $20 million in Pell Grants will be available to 10,000 high school students in 23 states to take dual enrollment courses, according to an education department news release announcing the program Monday.
Nearly 80 percent of the sites are community colleges.
LSUE will partner with the St. Landry Parish School Board to begin a new dual enrollment health care academy for high school students interested in science, medical or allied health care careers, an LSU news release stated.
The academy’s purpose would be to increase the number of under-represented, rural area students achieving a post-secondary degree in science guaranteed to transfer to any LSU institution or other Louisiana public university.
The program is to start this fall.
In the news release LSU Eunice Chancellor Kimberly A. Russell said, “This pilot program will allow students in the St. Landry Parish area the opportunity to begin their college careers early when they otherwise might not have been able to do so. Their success will greatly impact the parish and our local communities.”
The academy will serve all St. Landry Parish high school students. The parish is home to 83,000 residents with a median household income of $32,000. Twenty-eight percent are living below the poverty line, and 37 percent of those individuals are under the age of 18. Federal Pell Grants are available to students from families with annual incomes of $50,000 or less.
The St. Landry Parish public school system has an enrollment of about 14,000 students.
Russell, in a phone interview, said there are about 800 students in the St. Landry Parish who are eligible for a Pell Grant.
The program is open to juniors and seniors. Students will be as young as 16.
The LSUE program should work seamlessly with the parish’s Magnet Academy of Biomedical Sciences at Opelousas High School, Russell said.
“Our division head, Dr. John Hamlin, for math and science at LSUE serves on the board of the biomed program. We are hoping it will be a great partner with the program,” Russell said.
With the program it would be possible for a high school student to complete the pre-requisite courses for a registered nursing degree and then obtain the R.N. degree by the age of 19, Russell said.
Louisiana ranks 49th in the nation in terms of degree attainment, and studies have shown that individuals with a college degree can earn up to $1 million more than those with a high school diploma over the course of a career.
The Department of Education news release stated less than 10 percent of children born into the nation’s poorest households attain a bachelor’s degree by age 25. By comparison, 50 percent of the students in the top 25 percent income households achieve a bachelor’s degree.
Education Under Secretary Ted Mitchell said, “Dual enrollment programs are powerful ways to introduce rigorous coursework to students and show these students that they are smart enough, talented enough, and prepared enough to tackle higher education. Dual enrollment programs are game changers for all students – especially those are first-generation or from low-income families.”
Mitchell also said in the news release, “Through this experiment, we hope to learn how the availability of Pell Grants affects student participation and success in dual enrollment programs.”
The dual enrollment program is patterned after a program at University High at LSU, she said.
“We are just very excited about it,” Russell said. “Our goal is to be able to better serve our surrounding parishes and region. We want to be the economic engine for our region and we want to provide the health care industry and other industries in our area with a skilled work force.”