(Featured photo: Lillie Gennings, an alumnus of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) – Courtesy Photo)
In the previous year, 14,000 Oklahoma high school students enrolled in the concurrent program, according to Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
The concurrent enrollment program has nearly doubled in the last decade.
With so many students involved in the program, there are many experiences to consider.
Lillie Gennings, an alumnus of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC), was also a concurrent student at Santa Fe South High School (SFS).
Santa Fe South Charter Schools, as well as Pathways Middle College, which is an extension of Santa Fe South on the college’s campus, partner with Oklahoma City Community College through the concurrent program, allowing Santa Fe South high school students to attend OCCC to acquire college credits.
“I was introduced to it at my high school. I decided to do it because it would help me get ahead on my college credits and they would be paid for by the school which would also help save some money,” Gennings says.
Santa Fe South High School pays for all the expenses acquired through attending college.
SFS students do not pay a cent for participating in the concurrent program while in high school.
The concurrent program was designed to expose high school students to a college environment and help make the transition into college life easier once they graduate high school, says the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships.
Another bonus of concurrent learning is that it allows students to explore different college classes and figure out what they want to do along the way. That does not happen with every student, though.
Gennings said while helpful, concurrent programming did not really help her find what she wanted to major in, which is okay.
“Not a whole lot. I didn’t really know what I wanted to major in anyway but it did help me figure out that I just wanted to finish all my basics at OCCC and then I could figure out what I wanted to do after I finished there,” she said.
Even when participating concurrently, it can still be hard to make decisions regarding college.
Not all concurrent students decide to finish their associate’s degree at OCCC once they have graduated high school. Some go on to a four-year university, while others even wait to figure out what they want. Gennings was one of those who was not sure what she wanted to do.
“I was very indecisive. But after I finished high school, I realized that it’d save a lot of money and be a lot easier to finish my associate’s at OCCC because I already knew what I was doing there, I had a familiarity with it, and that way I could just keep going to one place until I was completely finished with it,” Gennings said.
To continue concurrent enrollment in a successful program between OCCC and Santa Fe South, on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2022, the OCCC Board of Regents and the Santa Fe South Board of Education signed a contract with Governor Kevin Stitt and a group of bipartisan legislators, which can be read about on the OCCC website.
This contract starts a new partnership that supplies even more new opportunities to the over 3,500 students at Santa Fe South. The concurrent program is something that OCCC and SFS want to keep constantly improving, and it has already been a great experience for some students.
“Everyone was always super nice in giving us directions and telling us where we needed to go,” Gennings said. “Anytime I needed to sign up for new classes, I would go in and the administration was always nice and helpful in figuring out what credits I needed for my basics.
Oklahoma City Community College has left a lasting impact with its concurrent enrollment program. Whether a student is there to just get a head start on their college credits, to find a major, or maybe just get a feel for college, OCCC is a great environment for high school students.
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