Oakland University students are finding a way to save money and complete their degrees faster through the school’s Community College Partnership Program.

The program allows students joint admission and concurrent enrollment at both OU and one of their community college partners. The partners include: Macomb, Mott, Oakland and St. Clair County Community College.

Students enjoy numerous benefits through these partnerships, including the flexibility to take courses at one or both institutions at the same time, expanded course selection and timely completion of associate and bachelor’s degrees.

The real appeal of the program, however, is the significant cost difference at the community college level. 

Upcoming senior, Samantha Siljanovski, participated in the Macomb 2 Oakland (M2O) program and experienced significant savings.

“I would highly recommend the M2O program,” she said. “The program saved me roughly $4,800-$5,400 and it allowed me to save my GPA from difficult courses such as Calculus and Biology.

Siljanovski also added that the program helped her by enabling her to take four classes at OU while also taking a fifth class at Macomb, helping her complete credits faster and for less money.

Another OU senior, Scott Milke, participated in the M2O program as well as took 58 credits at Macomb. He saved over $12,000.

One issue Milke had with the program was the different class start-dates and scheduling times during the semesters he was enrolled at both institutions. The breaks often didn’t match up, and he had to worry about lining up OU’s class schedule and Macomb Community College’s schedule along with his work schedule.

He says what drew him to the program was that he didn’t have to worry about classes transferring to OU when he was done at Macomb.

“I didn’t have to think, ‘what if this class doesn’t transfer over to my major?’ Or something like that,” Milke said. Instead I was enrolled at both schools and was given the freedom to take classes at either institution.”

The deadline to apply for the Community College Partnership Program for the fall semester is July 1, while the deadline for the winter semester is October 1. Students can earn OU credits by passing community college courses with a 2.0 GPA.

More information can be found at oakland.edu/ccp or by calling (800)OAK-UNIV.