Local companies who are members of the Keystone Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (ABC) can now offer their employees something more: the opportunity to get a head start on their associate's degree at Harrisburg Area Community College. In an agreement signed last week between Associated Builders, a representative group for the construction industry, and HACC, students who complete ABC's certified apprenticeship program and the related craft curriculum can earn college credit at HACC for their work. The agreement provides an opportunity for employees to complete an associate's degree in significantly in less time, less cost.

Students, mostly working adults who are employed by companies who are ABC members, are eligible for on-the-job training through ABC's Apprenticeship Program and the nationally recognized Wheels of Learning curriculum. Depending on the level of completion of the Apprenticeship Program, students who enroll at HACC in any course of study will have a jump-start of anywhere from three credits to 27.

"The agreement works to everyone's advantage," says Ron Young, Dean of HACC's Business, Engineering, and Technologies Division. "Associated Builders provides an added benefit for their membership; member companies employ workers with additional skills and knowledge; HACC, in addition to enrolling students, fulfills its commitment to a better trained workforce; and, most importantly, in some cases students can start their college studies almost halfway to a degree."

According to Young, the number of credits earned depends on the level of the curriculum the student completed at ABC. How those credits are applied at HACC depends on which course of study a student chooses. Those who are eligible include apprentices certified by ABC who completed their training program through an ABC member company within the last four years, at specified performance standards. That would include the 79 graduates from ABC's apprenticeship programs who just recently completed their coursework from the ABC facility in Manheim.

The agreement allows eligible students to attend any of HACC's four campuses in Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Gettysburg. The Keystone Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., provides service to the construction industry in Dauphin, Cumberland, Lancaster, York, and Berks Counties. For more information about the articulation agreement between HACC and Associated Builders, contact Ron Young, Dean of HACC's Business, Engineering, and Technologies Division, at (717) 780-2320, or 1-800-ABC-HACC, ext. 2320, or e-mail at rryoung@hacc.edu.