Southridge Spanish Partners: PSU Challenge and IB

What is PSU Challenge?

•  A regular college class taught at the high school, credit earned through diverse assessments--homework, quizzes, exams, papers--NOT one high-stakes exam.

•  A bridge to PSU--rigor, faculty, services (including the library resources), campus visits--that promotes college readiness.

•  A fraction of campus tuition cost.

•  Transferable credit.

It’s a Match: PSU Challenge Spanish and IB Spanish

q  Same course q  Different way to earn credit (based on

class performance, not a single exam) q  Requires registration as a PSU

student for each term (fall, winter, spring) and a fee.

Who is Eligible?

Seniors with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Juniors may participate with a recommendation from Ms. Colasurdo.

Why enroll as a PSU student?

It’s a great deal. Our program fee for a 4-credit class is $230/term ($678/year).* Same class on campus:

PSU: $ 754/term ($2,262/yr) UO: 1,214/term ($3,642/yr) OSU: 1,190/term ($3,570/yr) SOU: 823/term ($2,469/yr)

•  Reduced cost for students who provide evidence of eligibility for free & reduced lunch.

Why enroll as a PSU student? You earn 12 credits, complete the entire 2nd year sequence for 2nd Year College Spanish, and fulfill the foreign language requirement for a B.A. degree by taking the course, not an exam. Current OUS transfer policy for IB for scores of 5+

•  SL exam = Spanish 103 + 1 elective credit (5 credits) •  HL exam = Spanish 201, 202, 203 (12 credits)

Other Reasons to consider:

To take the pressure off of test taking: From a Southridge parent:

“Most of the kids, if they are in IB Spanish, probably have other IB and AP classes, which means many tests in the spring. It was a relief for [my son] not to have to worry about scoring well enough to get credit on the IB Spanish exam. Not that he didn’t work hard in class -- he did, getting B, B, A --but getting high enough marks on the IB tests to get credit is difficult.”

Other Reasons to Consider: Changing your Major

Meeting the Foreign Language requirement for a Bachelor of Arts degree means you have this covered. On average, college students change their major three times over the course of their college career.

“I started as a business major at UO [BS Degree]. End

of Junior year I switched to a major in History [BA Degree]. Instead of graduating in June as I’d planned, I had to take Spanish summer and fall terms.”

Other Reasons to Consider

A third of first-time college students will transfer at least once.* Even if one college doesn’t accept PSU credit, a different one might. PSU credit is part of your permanent college record and follows you where you go. “ Two years ago at Tigard HS I took two semesters of the IB/PSU Calculus course. At the time I didn’t think I would be able to transfer the PSU credit and therefore opted not to spend the money to receive the credit. I now realize that even if my college would not accept the math credit, medical schools to which I may apply in the future would.” * National Student Clearing House data 2011

Other Reasons to Consider

Starting out as a freshman in college with credits gives you flexibility. From a Southridge parent: “ With the credit, he has the option of taking a lighter load so he can concentrate on the classes in his major/minor.” From a Cleveland parent: “Starting college with credits has allowed my son to take a term off to do an internship in Italy without delaying his ability to graduate on time.”

Credit and Credit Transfer

What is credit? A college course is worth a number of credits (based on hours/week) To graduate from college requires: •  Approx. 180 credits in quarter system •  Approx. 120 credits in semester system You’ll choose courses that fulfill requirements of your major, but your first two years you take general requirements, such as 2nd year Spanish.

PSU Credit

Challenge courses earn 4 credits each

Courses are catalog-listed general requirements, easy to match from university to university

Grades are recorded at PSU and become part of your permanent college record

How Credit Transfers

•  Must send an official transcript from PSU to the receiving university

•  Assessment based on the receiving university’s credit transfer policy (can be found on school websites)

•  Can transfer in a variety of ways--direct credit, elective credit, a prerequisite waiver--depending on how similar a course is to that university’s offerings.

•  Your transfer grade may be calculated separately from your college’s GPA, unless required for your major.

General Guidelines for Credit Transfer •  PSU has a high success rate for transferability nationally •  Public schools almost always transfer credits •  Ivy League colleges and some small private liberal arts

colleges (eg Whitman, Puget Sound) are restrictive. •  No “Double dipping” (receiving both high school

and college credit) •  Not taught on a college campus so cannot be a true

college course •  Tuition dollars

Partial List of Universities that Accept PSU Credit

Alabama, Birmingham, Univ. of Albertson College American Univ. Arizona, Univ. of Arizona State Univ. Azusa Pacific Univ. Barry Univ. Baylor Univ. Boise State Univ. Boston College Boston Univ. Brigham Young Univ. California, Berkeley, Univ. of California, Davis, Univ. of California, San Diego, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, Univ. of California Polytechnic (SLO) California State Univ., Chico Carlton College Carroll College Cedarville College Chapman Univ. Charleston, College of

Colorado at Boulder, Univ. of Columbia Christian College Concordia College Connecticut, Univ. of Cumberland Univ. Denver, Univ. of Eastern Washington Univ. Embry Riddle Aeronautical Univ. Emerson College Evergreen State College Fisk Univ. Foothill College George Fox College Georgia, Univ. of Gonzaga Univ. Grinnell College Howard Univ. Idaho, Univ. of Illinois, Univ. of Iowa, Univ. of Johnson& Wales Univ. Kilgore College Knox College La Salle Univ. Lewis & Clark College Linfield College Lower Columbia College Loyola Marymount Univ. Macalester College

Marquette Univ. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Miami Univ. Milwaukee School of Engineering Missouri, Univ. of Montana, Univ. of Mount Holyoke College New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology New York Univ. North Carolina, Chapel Hill Northern Arizona Univ. Northwest Nazarene College Notre Dame, Univ. of Occidental College Oklahoma Baptist Univ. Oklahoma Christian Univ. Pace Univ. Pacific Univ. Pacific Lutheran Univ. Pepperdine Univ. Pitzer College Point Loma Nazarene Univ. Pomona College Portland, Univ. of Redlands, Univ. of Richmond, Univ. of

Ricks College Rochester, Univ. of Saint Louis Univ. (Spain) Saint Olaf College San Francisco State Univ. Santa Clara Univ. Seattle Univ. Seattle Pacific Univ. Skidmore College Southern California, Univ. of Stanford Univ. Trinity Univ. Utah, Univ. of Vanguard Univ. of So. CA Virginia, Univ. of Warner Pacific College Washington, Univ. of Washington State Univ. Western Baptist College Westmont College Wheaton College Whittier College Whitworth College Wichita State Univ. Willamette (by petition) William and Mary, College of Wisconsin, Univ. of Xavier Univ. York College of Pennsylvania

Please Note: This is neither a comprehensive nor static listing; the data is culled from our annual survey and so it is limited to the number of responses we receive; additionally, we cannot anticipate when credit policy might change for a particular institution. OUS state universities and community colleges all accept credit as well.

Fall Deadlines

Friday Sept. 20 Blue registration forms, completely filled

out with any petitions required, and payment due. These are turned into your instructor.

Friday Oct. 18 Last day to drop the course (no refunds are

given)

Making Informed Decisions about College

We strongly encourage you to factor credit transfer into your college decision; saving money on college is a huge advantage in today’s economy. If the school you’re interested in doesn’t accept dual credit, question this and let the recruitment advisor who visits or the Admissions Office of the school you’re interested in, know that the ability to transfer your PSU credit will be considered in your college decision. You’ve earned this credit.

Average student loan debt as of 2013: $26,600

In conclusion …

We require that 60% of a class be enrolled at PSU in order to offer the Challenge Program.

This is harder to do in an IB school because

the focus is on IB. But your school and your instructor wouldn’t be offering the PSU option if we didn’t all believe that there is benefit to you!