CCU Academy Confers First Degrees
CCU Academy, a recently formed academic division of Colorado Christian University focused on providing affordable college credit options to high school students, awarded its first associate degrees in liberal arts. The division conferred five degrees to seniors at Trinity Classical Academy in Santa Clarita, Calif., during Trinity’s June graduation ceremony.
The degrees were a result of the students combining CCU dual credit courses offered at Trinity, transfer credits from accredited colleges and universities, and successful completion of AP course credit, which was also recognized as transfer credit by CCU.
“We are so proud of our students and all they have achieved in earning their associate degrees from CCU, alongside their Trinity diplomas,” said Loni Black, dual credit and scholarship advisor at Trinity. “The associate of arts program is a wonderful option, and we are thankful for our partnership with CCU, which has been a blessing to our students and families. Seeing these first associate degrees conferred is truly an exciting day that we have all worked hard together to see realized.”
The five Trinity students are the first to take advantage of CCU Academy’s associate degree option. The nascent CCU Academy will begin offering online dual enrollment courses in the fall to complement its already robust offering of high school dual credit courses. The University has offered dual credit courses for the last 10 years. In 2019-2020, the dual credit program, which is now part of CCU Academy, had more than 5,000 students enrolled at 165 high schools across the United States and internationally.
Trinity Classical Academy has been a dual credit partner with CCU for the last five years and currently offers more than 20 CCU courses in the high school program, enrolling over 150 students in 617 courses. Trinity students completed 1,874 college credits in the 2019-2020 academic year. During the 2019-2020 academic year, Trinity Classical Academy graduated nine seniors with more than 50 dual credit units, 23 seniors with more than 40 dual credit units, and 32 seniors with more than 30 dual credit units. Each of the associate degree candidates at Trinity earned between 44-55 credits in the dual credit program at CCU and completed the 60-hour associate degree requirement by transferring in additional college coursework and AP score results.
CCU’s recent launch of online dual enrollment courses will help schools such as Trinity make it easier and more productive for students to complete their associate degree upon high school graduation.
Registration for CCU Academy dual enrollment courses opens June 15, 2020, for fall classes. Learn more at ccu.edu/academy.