ISSUED: 17 August 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Starting with the fall 2018 semester, Shepherd University has expanded its successful dual enrollment program for high school students to include juniors and seniors from Berkeley County. This fall, more than 100 West Virginia students who meet the grade requirements may take Shepherd courses while receiving both high school and college credit simultaneously with a reduced rate of $84 per credit hour. Earned credits count toward a degree at Shepherd or will transfer to any accredited university.
Shepherd offers these courses both at its main campus in Shepherdstown, as well as at the Martinsburg Center. Begun in 2013 with the goal of providing educational opportunities to adult learners in Berkeley County and beyond, the Martinsburg Center also offers a degree completion program at the undergraduate level, in addition to Shepherd’s Master of Business Administration degree.
“Shepherd’s presence in Martinsburg and at the center is a vital part of providing a pathway to higher education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels for the residents of Berkeley County and the surrounding area,” said Dr. Scott Beard, Shepherd’s provost. “The expansion of Shepherd’s dual enrollment program for high school students enables us to maximize our use of the Martinsburg Center facility and to further increase our impact in providing affordable access to higher education.”
In addition to the importance of Shepherd’s presence in Berkeley County with the Martinsburg Center, Beard noted Shepherd’s strong ties to the Berkeley County school system.
“Many graduates of our stellar teacher education program are employed by Berkeley County Schools, and we recently received several grants targeted specifically at helping students in Berkeley County,” Beard said. “These include an Upward Bound TRiO grant to help first-generation and income eligible students, as well as a recent professional development schools grant from the West Virginia Department of Education that will allow our teacher education program to further strengthen its ties with Berkeley County. We’ve had great success in our partnerships with the school system there and look forward to continued close collaboration.”
For more information on dual enrollment, which is open both to public high school students and home-schooled students, visit www.shepherd.edu/aco-dual-enrollment or contact Dr. Virginia Hicks, assistant provost for academic community outreach at vhicks@shepherd.edu.
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