News Releases @ TCC

TCC LINKS WITH WILLIAM & MARY
Groundbreaking agreement creates co-enrollment opportunities for TCC students

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – (Nov. 15, 2005) – Tidewater Community College and The College of William and Mary have forged an historic agreement that will benefit qualified TCC students bound for a baccalaureate. Presidents Deborah M. DiCroce and Gene R. Nichol announced the groundbreaking partnership today.

Beginning fall 2006, a partnership between TCC and William and Mary will provide guaranteed admissions for up to 15 eligible TCC students to the second oldest university in the United States and, according to U.S. News & World Report, the leading small public university in the nation. This is the first community-college agreement for W&M.

Uniquely, the William and Mary-TCC guaranteed admission agreement provides for co-enrollment at both TCC and W&M while the student completes the associate degree. Students who complete a minimum of 15 transferable credits at TCC with a 3.5 GPA or above can sign a letter of intent to co-enroll in as many as five courses at William and Mary and pay TCC tuition and fees.

“This agreement with one of the nation’s finest universities profoundly raises the level of baccalaureate opportunities for our students in South Hampton Roads,” says TCC President DiCroce. The agreement will help meet today’s burgeoning influx of community college students who intend to transfer to baccalaureate institutions.

“With transfer playing a critical role in the restructuring of higher education, The College of William and Mary is proud to be in the vanguard of universities working to ease access to all public higher education,” says W&M President Nichol. “We have seen many topnotch students from TCC in the past, and welcome a new avenue of guaranteed admission and co-enrollment.”

Participating co-enrolled students who earn the associate in arts or sciences degree with a 2.7 GPA or above will be guaranteed admission to The College of William and Mary with junior standing and lower-division general education goals met. (Students intending to enroll in the School of Business Administration or the School of Education must meet additional requirements.)

Eligible TCC graduates admitted as degree candidates to The College of William and Mary may apply for a grant through the College’s Gateway program in addition to other available aid packages to cover unmet financial need.

Additionally, co-enrolled TCC students will receive a William and Mary ID card, which entitles them to student discounts, library privileges, access to computer labs and student parking on the campus of The College of William and Mary.

TCC has guaranteed admissions agreements with Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, Longwood University and James Madison University. TCC also has a unique degree-program partnership with the University of Virginia - delivered at TCC - designed exclusively for TCC students and alumni.