Felix Balderas 
EDINBURG – Dual enrollment college credit expansion programs are being expanded for approximately 4,430 students in the South Texas Independent School District. This comes after a collaborative effort with UTRGV to provide new opportunities for the students of the district.
“We are really excited about the opportunity to provide our students’ participation with UTRGV and their programs of study[…] now that we can have our other 3 high schools participate. That’s just going to provide a world of opportunities for all our students. We are looking to identify those students as early as spring, and we have close to or more than 500 that are already eligible to do that,” said STISD Superintendent Tony Lara.
Courses provided for the program will include core classes such as English, mathematics, and science. and There are ongoing efforts being made by the district to expand into CTE courses in the future, according to Lara.
“I have to thank Dr.Bailey for his vision and for allowing us to have those conversations with him and his team to provide these opportunities for high school students. The Valley is a very proud place with a culture that is exceptional and unlike others, and I think that the expansion of this for our students is going to allow them to continue their post-secondary education in their professions and hopefully stay with us here in the valley and serve all the residents that live here” said Lara.
The dual enrollment college credit expansion is expected to take effect in Spring when students who are high school juniors and seniors can participate with UTRGV and start earning college credit as they get ready to graduate from STISD.
