Gov. Perdue Visits Guilford to Announce New Program for State High School Students
Gov. Beverly Perdue visited Guilford on Thursday 
to announce the new Career & College Promise (CCP) initiative that will allow North Carolina high school students to earn more than a year of college credit at no cost.
The program starts in January, and is free to eligible students who have “B” averages and show readiness for college work.
Through CCP, high school juniors and seniors can earn about a year and half worth of credit toward a degree through separate paths. She noted that the program is not really “new” in Guilford County –Guilford College and the Guilford County Schools pioneered the concert with the creation of Early College at Guilford (ECG). “It started here,” she said.
Perdue indicated that CCP will expand similar opportunities across the state. “Overall what we’re doing is guaranteeing every student in North Carolina that we can prepare our high school students differently, whether it’s college credits or job training,” she said.
The reason? The current global economy, she said, demands that skills and knowledge be honed, indicating that individuals “who will end up thriving and succeeding are those who start out with the best skills in their back pocket. I believe this is going to make a real difference in North Carolina.”
While on campus, Perdue dropped in at Early College and toured Karen Carroll’s AP English class and Margo Melton’s AP environmental science class. Guilford was picked as an announcement site because the Early College at Guilford is North Carolina’s first early college high school. Her Guilford stop was one of three, others in Durham and Charlotte, to announce CCP.
The program’s creation received bipartisan support in the N.C. General Assembly, Perdue said. Its three pathways for students are:
- College Transfer – Earn tuition-free course credits toward a four-year degree through North Carolina’s community colleges. All North Carolina public colleges and universities are participating and many independent colleges and universities have signed on as well.
- Technical Careers – Earn tuition-free course credits at an NC Community College toward an entry-level job credential, certificate or diploma in a technical career.
- Cooperative Innovative High Schools – Begin earning tuition-free college credits as early as freshman year by attending a Cooperative Innovative High School, such as an Early College High School.
Other officials attending the announcement in Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Auditorium were Dr. Scott Ralls, president of the N.C. Community College System; Dr. William Harrison, chairman of the N.C. State Board of Education; Dr. June Atkinson, N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. Hope Williams, president of the N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities; and Guilford County Schools Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green.
ECG has been recognized as one of the nation’s top public high schools by Newsweek Magazine, ranking in the top 25 for three consecutive years and ranked as an ELITE High School for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. It also received the 2009 and 2010 Magnet Schools of America Merit Award as a Magnet School of Distinction.
