A new program starting next year in Lehighton Area School District will give students the chance to end their high school career with not only a diploma, but also an associate of arts degree from Lehigh Carbon Community College.

Lehighton will join Parkland Area School District as the only two in the area to be offered the high school-college scholars program.According to Dr. Thomas Meyer, LCCC vice president for academic services and student development, Lehighton junior and senior students will be eligible to take all of their high school classes as dual enrollment courses. When they graduate from Lehighton, their associate of arts degree from LCCC would be eligible for transfer to a four-year college.“We are extremely excited for this opportunity,” Lehighton High School Principal Craig Reichl said. “It is one more opportunity, one more avenue, we can provide for our students moving forward. The goal is to present this to our sophomores and juniors in April and have the students who qualify and are interested attend the courses next year at LCCC. Beyond the first year, we feel we’ll have enough students interested to be able to hold the classes here in Lehighton with our own staff.”To be eligible, students must place into college-level courses or qualify for exemptions.Parents would be responsible for the student’s travel to and from LCCC and for covering costs associated with participation.The estimated tuition is $55 per credit for a total of 60 credits, making the total $3,300 per student. By comparison, a regular part-time student pays $100 per credit if they are from a sponsoring district.Textbook costs are estimated at $3,000 per student over two years.“We know how expensive college tuition can be,” said Tim Tkach, Lehighton’s director of curriculum, instruction and grants. “This is a tremendous cost savings to the student. There would be criteria the students need to meet. They need to be advanced or proficient on the Keystones in addition to taking the college entrance exam. I think it speaks very highly of our district that this is being offered with Parkland and us right now.”Reichl said around 65 to 75 percent of the current sophomore class scores advanced or proficient on their Keystone exams.“We’d really like the enrollment in this program to be around 10 percent of the class for the first year to keep it manageable,” he said. “That puts us at about 10 to 17 students.”Like Reichl, Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver is excited at how students could benefit from the relationship with LCCC.“This is an opportunity where we could see our kids really being cutting edge in the area,” Cleaver said. “You have the chance to walk across our stage in June and then walk across the LCCC stage with an associate degree. This program also offers scholarship opportunities. There was a student who recently completed this and transferred to Bucknell.”Students would still be afforded all the benefits of being a Lehighton High School student including participation in extracurricular activities.While the idea of a high school-college honors program has taken off in other states, it’s in its infancy in Pennsylvania.“This shows the kind of forward thinking that is happening here in Lehighton,” board member Dave Krause said. “When you look at tuition costing $20,000 to $45,000 a year and beyond, getting this kind of head start at this cost is incredible. Just the affordability alone to launch more of our students into a college program is fantastic.”The district will hold an information night for parents at 6:30 p.m. April 24 in the Lehighton High School auditorium.