CVTC, Lakeland College to offer dual enrollment

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By MARK GUNDERMAN mark.gunderman@lee.net
Friday, October 26, 2007 10:57 PM CDT

Many people dream of bettering themselves by enrolling in college, getting an education, and a better job for the future.

Now they can go one better and enroll in two different colleges at the same time to work toward that advanced degree.

The presidents of Chippewa Valley Technical College and Lakeland College signed an agreement Friday to establish “interwoven,” or dual, admission in accounting and business management programs.

The arrangement improves on the traditional transfer-of-credits agreements between technical colleges and colleges or universities that offer baccalaureate degrees.

Such streamlining for students is rare, said CVTC President Bill Ihlenfeldt and Lakeland College President Stephen Gould at a signing ceremony at the CVTC Chippewa Falls campus, which also houses a Lakeland College campus.

“Many students come here (to CVTC) with the intention of obtaining a four-year degree,” said Gould.

Those students would traditionally try to transfer the technical college credits to another institution to complete the degree.

The agreement will make that easier, and also allow students to take classes at both institutions at once toward that degree goal.

“This is a more effective and efficient way of doing business,” said Gould. “We want to continue being part of the development of the workforce.”

“As we know education today, it’s built on partnerships,” said Ihlenfeldt, who has made forging partnerships a hallmark of his presidency at CVTC. He is retiring at the end of the year.

Ihlenfeldt said parents and students have made clear that they want transfer of credits between technical colleges and four-year colleges and universities.

“It’s only in the past few years that we’ve recognized the technical colleges as a pathway toward a baccalaureate degree,” Ihlenfeldt said.

Those students don’t want to retake classes at the university level that they’ve already taken at the technical college level, he said. “It’s a waste of time and a waste of money for them.”

The CVTC-Lakeland agreement makes the process much easier for those students. Courses at CVTC and Lakeland for the associate and bachelor’s degrees will be taken simultaneously, not sequentially, and there will be one-stop service in financial aid, counseling and more.

The college presidents said scheduling options for day, evening, weekend accelerated and self-paces classes will provide even greater convenience.