Early College Programs
St. Benedict’s offers a robust Early College Program for talented students to earn college credit as early as UDI (sophomore) year. Our partnerships are with Seton Hall University, Rutgers University-Newark and NJIT. We find these partnerships to be more beneficial than Advanced Placement (AP) courses because our students earn college credits that are transferable to the colleges and universities they ultimately attend after St. Benedict’s.
Seton Hall University
St. Benedict’s is a participant in Seton Hall University’s Project Acceleration, which is a concurrent enrollment program within the College of Arts and Sciences in South Orange. Enrolled students can earn credits from Seton Hall for approved courses taken at their high schools. This means that UDIs (sophomores), UDIIs (juniors) and seniors can begin their college studies right at St. Benedict’s and will have a transcript from Seton Hall University reflecting credits earned (the course grade must be a C or higher to earn credits).
Project Acceleration teachers at St. Benedict’s have been approved to teach college-level courses through their own educational credentials. Project Acceleration staff at Seton Hall is also committed to helping students navigate the transfer of those credits to whichever college he or she matriculates.
Project Acceleration tuition is free for qualifying students through our federal Title IV funding.
Recent course offerings include:
Meteorology (Mrs. Tuorto)
Environmental Science (Mrs. Tuorto)
Psychology (Dr. Lamourt)
Advanced Art (Mrs. Wye)
Jazz Band (Dr. Fletcher)
Latin 4 (Mr. Kane)
Spanish 4 (Mr. Rodriguez)
Rutgers University-Newark
Gifted seniors are eligible to take college classes at Rutgers University's Newark campus at a significantly reduced rate. Students receive college credit directly from Rutgers for taking courses such as psychology, economics and advanced calculus.
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Gifted juniors and seniors can take credit-bearing classes such as engineering fundamentals, chemistry, and calculus on the NJIT campus, just a few blocks from St. Benedict’s. NJIT has generously offered a reduced rate to our students as well.
Students have to earn the opportunity. But they walk away with college transcripts and credits that are transferable. ” — Associate Headmaster for Academics Michelle Tuorto H ’16