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| College of DuPage |
But, when the 21-year-old walks across the stage during his commencement in December, his diploma won’t look or be treated any differently than any other from the four-year university.
Pandya is one of dozens of students who will be graduating either this spring or winter with a bachelor’s degree while finishing up classes at the College of DuPage. They are the first students to participate in the community college’s new 3+1 degree programs.
“It’s been working out great for me,” he said. “This just made it so much easier.”
Instead of paying for a dormitory, he will be able to stay with his parents in Carol Stream as he finishes out his last year of college, keeping a part-time job and paying much less for his degree.
“With the model that we have, I believe we’re the first in the state of Illinois to do something like this,” said Glenda Gallisath, COD’s associate vice president of academic affairs. “We started the model from scratch and this has grown rapidly for us.”
COD still offers its more common 2+2 degree programs, which means that students take two years of classes for an associate’s degree at the College of DuPage, and then go on to a four-year university for a bachelor’s degree. With the 3+1 degree programs, students pay COD tuition for the first three years and typically a 40 percent discount off the partnering university’s tuition for the last year.
Students stay on the same campus all four years, taking classes from the partnering university’s professors who come to COD.
Todd Burrell, president of the Illinois Association for College Admissions Counseling, said he hasn’t heard of any other programs in the area similar to it.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years and I’d say they’re probably on the leading edge of offering this and partnering with other institutions,” he said. “It’s a great option for students who can’t travel or may have limited resources to affording education.”
The program also is a benefit to the college and partnering universities by drawing and keeping more students, he said.
The College of DuPage signed its first agreement with Lewis University in 2011. Since, it’s signed agreements with Benedictine University, Concordia University Chicago, Governors State University and Roosevelt University.
In all, COD has 20 associate degree programs that feed into 12 bachelor’s degrees for the 3+1 program.
COD has room for the visiting professors because of its recent campus expansion, Gallisath said. For the fall, 455 students have expressed interest in the program.
“We have a number of students in the pipeline. I think it’s going to grow,” she said. “The economic situation could change for a family and this gives them a real path to say, yes, my son or daughter could go get a bachelor’s degree.”
Staying on COD’s campus allowed Pandya to keep earning money to pay for his education.
“Students in this economy are not just students. I don’t know anybody in my classes who doesn’t have a part-time job or more than one part-time job,” he said. “They have to work for their tuition and books, so when you don’t have to pay as much and have a convenient location, it makes a big difference.”
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