Winnisquam Regional High School Students Save $42,900 on LRCC Tuition

1/26/2010
Photo: WRHS Running Start Teacher, Joe Linko (center right), pauses for a moment with his Principles of Marketing students, Mathew Smarkel (far left), Kathlene Robitaille (center left), and Emily Belcher (far right).

Winnisquam Regional High School (WRHS) students, along with other Lakes Region schools, have been participating in a dual enrollment program, Running Start, with Lakes Region Community College (LRCC), Laconia. The Running Start Program allows juniors and seniors in high school to earn college credits while at the same time completing high school graduation requirements. Secondary school teachers who are qualified to teach at the college level partner with college professors to ensure college-level performance. Students earn credits at LRCC which are transferable throughout the University System of NH and to hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation. Students register with LRCC and pay a $100 fee, saving almost $500 per class.

"High school students taking LRCC Running Start courses experience a significant savings, over 80%," says new LRCC Running Start Coordinator, Clay Groves (Conway). "Governor Lynch supports Running Start in every possible way, in fact, providing scholarships for students who cannot afford the $100 fee. WRHS students seem to be getting the most ‘bang for their buck.’ Over the last three years 25% of all Lakes Region Running Start students were from WRHS."

This week Joe Linko’s (Sanbornton) WRHS Principles of Marketing Running Start students held a business focus group using Groves; Max Brown (Loudon), LRCC Business Professor; and Sam Redman (Gilmanton), LRCC honor student; to discuss the marketing of the Running Start program. Three of Linko’s students are earning college credit through this class and had already earned college credits through previous WRHS Running Start classes. Linko teaches three additional Running Start courses at WRHS Accounting, Intro to Business and Personal Financial Management.

Kathlene Robitaille (Northfield) has taken six Running Start courses earning her 18 credits and says, "Running Start has shown me what college courses are like and it has been a great experience." Two other students in Linko’s class, Matthew Smarkel (Northfield), and Emily Belcher (Northfield), have earned 12 and 15 credits respectively.

Running Start courses are available for most subject areas, including history, sociology, science, mathematics, and psychology. "Winnisquam Regional High School teachers are very committed to offer academic programs that allow content involvement both in and out of the classroom and students have an opportunity to continue their academic interests after Winnisquam," says David Rogacki (Belmont), WRHS teacher and Running Start Liaison. "The content of the Running Start courses goes outside of the textbook and applications are easily found in the real world. The teachers enjoy teaching at the college level and continue to extend their work effort to expand the learning experiences of their students."

Running Start students are treated as LRCC part-time college students and earn a transcript that is the same as students who attend LRCC on Prescott Hill. Running Start is available in every NH high school. For information contact Groves at LRCC, 603-581-8084, or by email at cgroves@ccsnh.edu.