For several years, the students at Quitman High School and Enterprise High School have been able to enjoy taking dual enrollment classes at Jones College.
The partnership with the schools so the students can take the classes without paying tuition was made possible by Jones College and the Clarke County Board of Supervisors working together.
“The supervisors pay for the dual students,” explained Jones College director Reggie Richardson. “They pay for our CTE classes: welding and heavy equipment. We can only take a certain amount of students in the CTE programs, and they pay those dual students’ tuitions. They pay the academic classes for dual students. Right now, they pay for 75 seats between Quitman and Enterprise because those two schools share 75 academic seats.”
Both the supervisors and Jones College wanted to give back to the community, and they decided the best way was through dual enrollment.
“We started this Jones College project in 2012. We had a bond issued for it, and we got it built and started up in 2014,” expressed supervisor Darrick Marshall. “Dual enrollment was something that the Board of Supervisors came up with to try and give back to the community. We wanted to see that both Enterprise and Quitman schools had a fair shake by sending different kids there each year. We wanted to give them a head start on going to college. Some of the kids who may not be able to travel by car or have parents that may not have the finances to send them to college could take the classes. We thought we could give back to the community by having about 15 kids from Enterprise and 15 kids from Quitman go while we paid the tuition. They could go to that class at Jones for two years, get a degree, and put it back into the community.”
The low cost of tuition for the supervisors helped inspire them even more.
“We only had to pay $32,330 a year for both schools. That’s awesome for tuition for 30 kids to go to school,” declared Darrick. “Jones College is in our district, and that is where a lot of our Clarke County kids go. They reached out to us, and we worked together to make a local agreement with them. They pay all the teachers, and the Clarke County Board of Supervisors has to give so much money a year to Jones College by state statute anyways. We decided it would just be a good idea to make it where Quitman and Enterprise kids could go there at a decent price where the parents wouldn’t have to worry about the finances. With the low income families we have in the county, we thought it would be a great idea to help out.”
Since it first started up in 2014, there have been some changes over the years—in a positive way. Interest has grown considerably, and the supervisors have made sure that everything they do is to help benefit the community as a whole.
“Mr. Richardson said the numbers have doubled, and we have people calling in about it every day. We’re very excited about the direction we’re going in right now,” proclaimed Darrick. “When we originally opened the school, it was taking on the oil field business. The oilfield collapsed a little, so we backed up and went another direction. We thought that cooperating with the schools and turning things around by giving the kids an opportunity to go there and get a positive education would be better right now than focusing on the oil field.”
The board agrees that paying the tuition for the dual enrollment classes is one of the best ways they spend money each year.
“We don’t consider ourselves wasting taxpayer money with this,” described Darrick. “We definitely invest back in our kids because they’re the future of this community.”
With all the positive outcomes of the dual enrollment program, the supervisors and Jones College look forward to seeing how it will continue to grow and improve even more over the upcoming years.
