Catawba College and Davidson County Community College formalized an agreement Tuesday that will make it easier for the community college’s students to complete four-year degrees at the private Salisbury college.
Under the agreement, graduates of DCCC’s early childhood education degree program can pursue the bachelor or arts in education degree with a major in birth-kindergarten education, attending in the evenings while working full time.
Catawba’s evening program is designed for working adults. Students can complete four courses per semester, taking them in sequence and finishing one course at a time. The program also qualifies them for state tuition assistance because they have full-time student status.
“We are excited about the opportunity the … agreement brings for our early childhood graduates,” said Judy Zimmerman, the community college’s associate dean of education and service technology.
“It provides an excellent choice for graduates who need to work while completing their bachelor’s degree,” Zimmerman said. “It is accessible with a relatively short drive to Salisbury, and with the state tuition assistance, the cost is competitive with public institutions, even though Catawba is a private college.”
The schools also formalized a “Transfer with Ease” articulation agreement to allow graduates of DCCC’s associate in arts degree program to transfer credits into several of Catawba’s bachelor degree programs. With that option, associate of arts graduates may enter several day programs at Catawba to pursue the bachelor of arts, bachelor of science and bachelor of fine arts degree programs.
An additional alternative for associate of arts students is entry into Catawba’s evening bachelor of business administration program, which includes options for concentrations in business management, information systems or administration of justice.