Concordia University, Nebraska, and Southeast Community College become educational partners

Students will soon have the opportunity to benefit from a new partnership between Concordia University, Nebraska, and Southeast Community College (SCC). The presidents of the two institutions signed an official partnership on Friday, Oct. 5, to solidify financial and educational commitments of their new partnership, effective immediately. 

Concordia President Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich said a partnership with Southeast provides scholarship and financial aid opportunities for SCC graduates. “Concordia and Southeast already have a long history of supporting each other’s efforts to provide excellent educational opportunities for Nebraska’s students. We are pleased to craft that partnership in a way that helps SCC students put a bachelor’s degree from a nationally recognized private university within reach.”

Southeast Community College President Dr. Paul Illich said SCC is committed to empowering and transforming its students.

“The new partnership with Concordia represents a tremendous opportunity for SCC students wanting to pursue a four-year degree as part of their educational journey,” Illich said. “Collaboration and innovation among other institutions of higher education is key toward ensuring our students and communities have as many unique and successful opportunities as possible.”

Graduates of SCC who have earned an associate degree and who choose to enroll full-time at Concordia will be awarded no less than $15,000 annually in institutional aid as they pursue their bachelor’s degree at Concordia. In addition, those students will receive a New Horizons Scholarship of $2,000 that stacks incrementally with all other Concordia grants and academic or performance scholarships.

“Our mission is to equip students to learn, serve and lead in the church and world and we want to provide these students a significant amount of financial help toward their four-year degree,” said Friedrich. “We are pleased to offer at least $17,000 annually in financial aid and scholarships, that combined with our 98% career outcome rate will make it easier to explore the opportunities  that will be available to these students with a bachelor’s degree from Concordia.”

Both the Partnership Guarantee and New Horizons Scholarship are renewable annually if students remain in good academic standing at Concordia with a 2.0 GPA or higher.

The two institutions agree that students who satisfactorily complete an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree at Southeast will have completed all general education requirements at Concordia with the exception of religion and theology credits (nine credit hours). 

Transfer students will be required to complete a minimum of 50 post-associate degree semester hours at Concordia University, Nebraska and will then be awarded a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree from Concordia University, Nebraska, upon meeting academic requirements.

Dr. Tim Preuss, provost at Concordia University, Nebraska, said, “Transferring from Southeast to Concordia allows students an opportunity to experience a quality private Christian education while staying in Nebraska. Our professors are dedicated to enriching students’ lives with engaging programs that prepare our graduates for professional, personal and spiritual growth, and now more students from right here in Nebraska can conveniently receive that kind of educational experience close to home.”

For further details, visit cune.edu/transfercredit.