Southern University will vie for a portion of the Baton Rouge, La. community college market this fall as part of a strategy officials have devised to increase enrollment at the historically Black Southern University Baton Rouge campus.
Student enrollment numbers have fallen in recent years with the introduction of tougher state admissions standards, according to university officials.
The Advocate of Baton Rouge reports the state has cautioned the strategy could fail when state officials assess the performance measures used to dispense state funding for schools, a concern a Southern System official downplayed late last week.
The plan specifies that Southern University at Shreveport, a two-year community college, will administer a satellite location in Baton Rouge. Students who fail to meet the admissions criteria to get into Southern-Baton Rouge can still study at the campus by enrolling in remedial courses through Southern-Shreveport.
The Advocate reports that:
“In other words, participating students would take classes taught by SUSLA-hired instructors, pay tuition and apply for financial aid through the Shreveport school, but be physically located on the Baton Rouge campus.
The partnership allows students to cross-enroll, meaning they can take necessary developmental courses through SUSLA simultaneously with the college-level coursework offered by Southern.
So far, 150 students have signed up, Southern Chancellor James Llorens said. Those students are eligible to live on the Baton Rouge campus and participate in all school activities, he added.”
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