Last week’s UCA Faculty Senate meeting included discussion about introducing a new program allowing Greenbrier High School students to attain an associate degree from UCA before they graduate high school. The program sounds like a good recruitment tool, but will lose UCA money and will not guarantee any additional students.

The plan will make up to 60 hours available for Greenbrier students, which will allow them to receive an associate degree from UCA before they graduate high school. Classes are $10 per credit hour. Teachers who provide the classes will have at least a master’s degree and some additional training, so the program will actually help Greenbrier students.

While the program is good for high school students, it does not require the students who receive the degree to go to UCA. A UCA associate’s degree is transferable to any public university in Arkansas, which means students can get their general education requirements out of the way on UCA’s dime and then go to another university to spend their tuition. This means UCA will lose money on the program without any guarantee of return on its investment.

Greenbrier students will be taught mostly by high school teachers, meaning they will have little to no contact with any college professors. The Greenbrier teachers will be trained, but students won’t get a sense of UCA’s culture and atmosphere. Most students will see it simply as a way to get more credit hours.

The program can be good for UCA. If UCA announced planned trips to campus for students, it might help convince them to attend after high school. However, without anything linking them to campus, UCA’s investment may go to waste.