EDUCATION: SOUTHEAST, THREE RIVERS ANNOUNCE A+ PARTNERSHIP

A new partnership between Southeast Missouri State University and Three Rivers Community College could provide area students with greater access to community college classes, school officials said Friday.

Three Rivers Community College at Poplar Bluff, Mo., is looking at offering two associate-degree programs on at Southeast. Final approval rests with the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

"This is the first step in opening up additional associate degrees here," said Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast.

The two schools announced this week that they plan to work together to provide two-year degree programs.

The move could be a boost for high school graduates of the A+ Schools program, who can secure tuition assistance from the state to attend community colleges or technical schools in Missouri.

But the state won't be footing the entire bill.

To be eligible for state assistance, students first must apply for Pell and other federal grants. The state will pay the difference between the federal funds students receive and the cost of tuition and textbooks, said Willard Worts, director of the A+ Schools program for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

This semester, DESE expects to pay $4 million in tuition and textbook costs for 3,500 to 3,700 students in Missouri, Worts said. That's about $1,081 per student. DESE projects spending $7 million this fiscal year for eligible students.

But Cape Girardeau area high school graduates are more than an hour's drive from the nearest community college.

Officials at Southeast and Three Rivers hope the new partnership will make it easier for a student to get a two-year degree.

Even high school graduates who don't participate in the A+ Schools program can take the associate-degree courses, officials said.

"What we are trying to do is provide more access to associate degree programs and to open our campus and the Sikeston Area Higher Education Center to A+ Schools graduates wishing to pursue associate degree programs closer to home rather than traveling so far," said Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast president

Dr. John Cooper, Three Rivers president, said the partnership will provide area residents with greater access to higher education at the "greatest possible cost effectiveness."