The Plainsman Press - South Plains College

SPC's Gateway Program Opens Door for

Amanda Hurt, staff writer

Many incoming college students are a little weary of their upcoming college experience. But with The Gateway Program, which is, a “pathway” program offered by Texas Tech University in partnership with South Plains College, they can be excited about experiencing the best days of their lives.

The Gateway Program was started in fall of 2001 by Texas Tech when admission rates began to rise, which made Tech raise admission standards. This caused the university to begin loosing students. The SPC Reese Campus became the location for the program to be offered to students because of its close proximity to Lubbock and Texas Tech.

“The program benefits students who truly want to be Tech students and provides them a way to go ahead and start their academic career and still participate in Tech college life,” said David Jones, vice president of student affairs at SPC.

Those students who apply for admission at Tech but do not reach the admissions requirements are presented with the Gateway Program as a transfer admission option. They can attend classes at SPC and attain certain requirements to then become a student at Tech.

The program is only offered to students for one year. If they don’t meet the certain criteria that must be met for entry into Tech, they are no longer a part of the program.

The program offers a summer Gateway Program in addition to fall and spring programs.

In order for a student to be part of the Gateway Program, he or she must meet certain requirements. For the summer I program, students must be exempt from TSI assessment or have taken and passed all three portions of the test, submit and complete an application for South Plains College, send an official high school transcript, take six hours minimum and earn a 2.5 GPA to make admissions standards at Tech for the fall and take college level classes that begin with 1 or 2, for example Eng. 1301.

A course that begins with a zero is not a college level course. Also, students have to take classes that are considered “core”, courses such as English and history. Summer I classes last approximately a month.

“The program is great,” said Cassie Lauck a fall 2005 gateway program student. “It prepares you for college, and it isn’t as stressful as going to a university.”

The rules and regulations for the fall and spring programs are as follows: the student must enroll and complete 12-23 hours of college level-courses that meet TTU requirements with a minimum of 2.5 GPA, or 24 hours of classes with a minimum of 2.25 GPA, to be considered for the fall 2006 semester. If the student completes the fall semester as expected, but decides to stay on for the spring semester at SPC as well, then he or she can apply for admission to Tech the next fall. In addition students have to turn in an application for admission for SPC, attend one of the Texan to Techsan sessions, which is a Gateway to Success Summer Conference and Early Registration, and be exempt from the TSI assessment or have taken one of the approved tests such as the THEA, Accuplacer or the ASSET before they begin registering for coursework. The students are not required to pass all three parts of the tests before enrolling into classes, but those scores received from the tests taken by the students must be provided to SPC.

Students also have to be enrolled as full-time students, SPC must receive an official high school transcript from each student, and students are required to take “core” classes.

At the end of each semester, SPC will submit the student’s transcripts to Tech.

“I highly suggest the program,” said Megan Queen, fall 2005 program student. “ It serves as a great stepping stone for students.”

Even though students are attending classes at SPC they are still able to live and act as Tech students, but are not aloud to attend classes at Tech. They are encouraged to live in Tech dormitories, attend sports functions, get involved in intramural sports and become a part of various clubs and organizations.

“The program gives students the opportunity to experience more personal classes,” said Stacey Elliott, counselor at SPC Reese Center. “The students get to know other students and are able to become more academically and socially mature, which, in turn, helps them become a more self-sufficient learner.”

For more information on The Gateway Program, students and parents can visit the SPC website at southplainscollege.edu or contact Elliott at 894-9611 ext. 4605, or David Jones at ext. 2360.