December 22
North Shore Community College (NSCC) has been awarded $40,000 for the 2024 fiscal year Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP) grant program by Governor Healey and Lt. Governor Driscoll.
CDEP provides opportunities for high school students to take college-level courses and earn credit toward high school completion and their future college degrees. Additionally, CDEP eases the transition from high school to college, allows students to get a head start on their college careers, and provides meaningful and challenging academic experiences to qualified students who otherwise may not have access to an early college experience.
The primary objective of CDEP is to increase the population of college-ready high school graduates. NSCC’s proposal helps to advance these goals.
MA Department of Higher Education Commissioner Noe Ortega said, “Thanks to NSCC for your continued support of dual enrollment for the students to whom this program gives a head start in college. And thank you for your commitment to increasing college participation through dual enrollment activities, particularly for low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation college students. Through this funding and your continued support, we hope to expand access to great educational opportunities for every student in the Commonwealth.”
The CDEP program resides in NSCC’s Division of Postsecondary Transition Programs. Which, in addition, serves non-matriculated students via Early College Designation programs with Danvers High School, Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, Lynn Classical High School, Lynn English High School, Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, Salem High School, Frederick Douglass Collegiate Academy, and Saugus Middle High School. The college’s Gateway to College, Fresh Start, Self-pay Dual Enrollment, Adult Learning Center, TRIO Talent Search, and TRiO Upward Bound also support students in completing college degrees. The NSCC Early College program currently serves about 1,000 students annually, with CDEP serving over 1,100 in the last five years.
“Early college programming is proven to be a strong motivator for college attendance as well as a way to break down equity barriers in education. NSCC is proud to have a full portfolio in this arena, along with the Commonwealth’s first on-campus early college high school in the Frederick Douglass Collegiate Academy in Lynn,” said NSCC President William Heineman.
For more information on the college’s early college programming, see NSCC Early College.