Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
One College Park Drive
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: Excellent Opportunity
Excellent Opportunity
September 23, 2005
- It introduces students to college level coursework in a more controlled environment, and often at a somewhat slower pace.
- It provides a cost effective way for students to start their college career.
- It may eliminate the duplication of general education courses during the freshman and sophomore years of college.
- It provides students with flexibility once enrolled in college, reducing the need to carry a heavy course load each semester.
- It provides students the opportunity to finish college a semester early or double major in the same amount of time it would normally take to graduate with a single major.
- It may provide the flexibility for students to study abroad if they wish, without being penalized for missing coursework at their home college or university.
Visit the EXCEL website at mobap.edu/excel.
Editor's note: This is the final installment of a two-part series about academic opportunities for high school students at MBU. Click here to read the first story of the series, an article about MBU’s dual-enrollment program for home school students.
Despite beginning the final year of her high school career, Whitney Robertson isn’t about to start slacking when it comes to her schoolwork.
Actually, quite the contrary rings true for the ambitious Oakville High School student—and for good reason.
“If I can focus on taking college credit while I am in high school then that’s one less class I’ll have to take once I get to college,” said Whitney, as she stood in front of her school. “It’s a really great opportunity for me to be able to do this now, not when I am taking other college classes.”
Through MBU’s EXCEL Program, come graduation Whitney will have earned nearly a half a semester worth of college credit, without ever having to leave the confines of her high school campus.
Since 1983, EXCEL has provided thousands of talented high school juniors and seniors living in Eastern Missouri with the opportunity to receive college credits while simultaneously fulfilling high school requirements. Qualified students simply take approved courses offered at their school for transferable, college credit. EXCEL instructors, who teach fulltime at the high-school level, are approved by MBU and possess credentials that meet requirements set forth by the Higher Learning Commission.
“MBU’s EXCEL Program gives students the unique ability to attain college credit from their high school classrooms,” said Mary Ellen Fuquay, director of the program. “We often hear from high school teachers and counselors that their former students return to herald the advantage of having had college course work completed prior to the freshman year of college. They appreciated the early introduction to the rigors of college curriculum while still in a familiar environment.”
In addition to the great opportunity to get started on college coursework, EXCEL students pay a nominal cost for the experience. Currently, EXCEL students pay only $52 per credit hour.
After high school, EXCEL students have the ability to transfer the credit hours they’ve garnered to the institution of higher learning that they choose. At some large high schools—where two or more universities offer dual credit courses—students can earn more than 30 credit hours during their high school career. In fact, some EXCEL students have received enough college credits that they enter college at sophomore status, without ever taking a traditional college course.
More than two decades after EXCEL’s inception, MBU has proven to regionally be a leader in the realm of high school dual-credit programs.
From public schools with more than 2,500 students enrolled to private institutions with a student population of no more than 200, last year more than 1,850 students were registered in EXCEL at more than 50 schools. At the time of the last formal dual-credit survey, MBU’s EXCEL program was the third-largest program in eastern Missouri.
For Whitney, who is set to attend college out of state come next year, the decision to get a jump on her college career isn’t something she regrets.
“I’d much rather take these courses over the course of a year than during the first semester of college,” said Whitney, who is currently enrolled in College Algebra. “It’s something I just couldn’t pass up.”
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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