PCHS students’ window for enrolling in Utah Valley University ends today

Utah Valley University offering classes at Park City High School. Photo: Michele Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — Today is the deadline for students at Park City High School to register for courses in Utah Valley University‘s (UVU) Concurrent Enrollment (CE) program without incurring late fees. After that, it’s more than the basic $5 per credit. UVU Liaison Kristi Nemelka  travels from her office at the Heber Campus to the High School’s counseling office a few times each year to help students with the enrollment process.

The electives offered include a purposefully wide variety so high schoolers can explore different career paths. They have the option to earn 35 credits of general studies that transfer to any public university in Utah. This in turn waves that portion of their college coursework, allowing them to start working towards major more quickly. CE has been in place since the 1980s.

“Park City offers all of their courses face to face. Most high schools have a live interactive version where they’re broadcasting real time from the UVU campus. Park City is one of the only High schools in the state has enough interest for face to face classes,” Nemelka told TownLift.

When parents of first graders in the Park City School District opt-in to the French/Spanish Dual Language Immersion program, they are told that their children will be able to get college credit for their enrollment once they reach Jr. high/high school. All other CE UVU courses begin in the 10th grade.

UVU services the school districts of:

• Park City
• Wasatch
• Orem
• Provo
• Alpine

“Each college has their own set of districts,” said Nemelka. “PCHS may offer additional courses that aren’t offered through UVU, however there is a process of first right of refusal.”

UVU has campuses in:

• Lehi
• Orem
• Heber

The counseling office conference room is home to a steady stream of mostly students, but also few parents. Parents talk to Nemelka to streamline logistics and dot the “i”s and cross the “t”s of their child’s UVU online registration process. To that end, Nemelka smiles and respectfully communicates that she highly encourages the high schoolers to take initiative to get it done themselves. She explains that even getting the codes, passwords, and usernames into the system to avoid nominal late fees for class is an important part of how students learn real world lessons about the higher education experience.