CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Chattanooga State Community College plans to launch a pilot honors college that will allow some students the chance to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from a private school.
The pilot program is set to begin in the fall with 16 students, who will participate part time.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the goal is to have the program fully operational by the fall of 2013. It will be open to students who have ACT scores of at least 27 and a grade point average of 3.6.
So far, Chattanooga State has partnered with three schools to offer the four-year degrees Sewanee: The University of the South in Tennessee and Berry and Morehouse colleges in Georgia.
School officials are continuing discussions with institutions, including Vanderbilt and Belmont universities.
“We have many people in our community who are the first of their family who aspire to go to college, and they might be college ready from point of view from an ACT or SAT score, but do they really know this huge cultural change that’s going to occur when they go to an elite school?” asked James Catanzaro, president at Chattanooga State.
“Our idea is to get them ready and offer them two years of their education here, which would be every bit an equal to what they would expect at Vanderbilt, Emory, Sewanee or the University of Virginia, for that matter,” he said. “While they are here, we would give them special tutors and coaches to make sure they can transition effectively, so, when they do end up as juniors, they have a high probability of success.”
