Students who attend high school in Bee County take college classes for free at Coastal Bend College.

But many students don’t know that. College officials are taking measures to change to make sure they do.

They are embarking on a marketing campaign to ensure students enrolled in Beeville, Pettus and Skidmore-Tynan are aware they can earn college credit while still in high school through CBC’s dual credit program — and save hundreds if not thousands of dollars in tuition costs.

Many community colleges offer dual credit programs, which allow students to earn college credit and high school credit at the same time for most basic courses.

However, CBC offers dual credit courses free to those students who attend A.C. Jones High School, Pettus High School or Skidmore-Tynan High School.

One reason for the generous offer: high school students who enroll in the dual credit program are more likely to attend CBC after they graduate high school in order to complete their degree, college officials say.

That concept has paid off — to a degree.

In the fall of 2009, 1,150 students from 33 high schools served by Coastal Bend College had enrolled in dual credit courses.

Those 1,150 students enrolled in 1,786 courses.

Of those students, some 200 students were enrolled at the three high schools in Bee County.

Coastal Bend College Trustee Fred Morón said he believes the number of Bee County high school students enrolled in dual credit classes should be higher.

“How can we reach all the students and let them know this is free for them. I don’t think all the students know that,” he told his colleagues on the board during their regular monthly meeting last week. “What are we doing to promote the dual credit program? How are we marketing this to the high schools?”

Velma Elizalde, dean of student services, said the 200 or so A.C. Jones High School students represent about half of all juniors and seniors.

She said some of the students simply are ineligible to take the classes because of grades or cannot take college classes because of sports or other extracurricular activities.

But Elizalde admits more could be done to ensure that all local high school students know about the free college classes.

Trustee Laura Fischer said she knows firsthand that not all high school students in Bee County are even aware they can earn college credit for free at CBC.

She said she was shopping at a local department store recently and asked the young man pushing out her cart of food where he went to school.

He told her he was a junior at Skidmore-Tynan High School, she recalled.

She asked him if he planned to attend college after he graduated high school.

He said yes.

Fischer said she asked him if he was enrolled in the dual credit program.

“He said he couldn’t afford to take dual credit classes,” she said. “I said ‘Yes, you can, they’re free. Any high school student in Bee County can take dual credit classes at Coastal Bend College for free,’ and he said, ‘They’re free? I didn’t know that.’ We (trustees) need to be ambassadors.”

College administrators assured the board that high schools are aware of the college’s dual credit program, as the climbing enrollment illustrates.

A mere 719 high school students enrolled in the dual credit program in the fall of 2007, but 869 students enrolled in 2008 fall classes and 1,150 in the fall of 2009.

High school students can take dual credit classes at their high school, at the college or via television, depending on what their campus offers — if they are aware of the program.

College officials readily admit that there is a turnover rate at high schools that may cause some of the problem. High school counselors who move may not tell their replacement about the free program, said Ann Harrell, dean of CBC’s Kingsville campus’ programs.

Harrell said CBC has developed a brochure about the dual credit program to be handed out to high school students.

She showed trustees the tri-fold brochure.

Elizalde said CBC has also arranged face-to-face meetings with students in the past to explain the benefits of the dual credit program — and has reiterated to local high school students that they won’t have to pay tuition for the classes.

Elizalde said CBC plans to set up a booth at events at local high schools to further promote the dual credit program.

“We really need to go to the high schools because it’s less intimidating (than for them to come to the college),” she said.

Even some of the smartest students are unaware of the free program.

College President Dr. Thomas Baynum said his wife was talking to a Barnhart scholar recently and discovered the student had not taken one dual credit class while in high school.

That student is now enrolled in CBC’s nursing program and paying tuition on courses she could have taken for free while still in high school, Baynum said.

College board President Paul Jaure recommended administration share their presentation with local school boards.

“When those folks buy into it, they’ll make the changes” to ensure that all their high school students are informed about the free program, he said.