By Jennifer Ampofo
Correspondent
The College announced on March 31 a new cross-registration agreement with Princeton University. The agreement is set for five years and allows students to take one course at the other school throughout their undergraduate education.
The agreement only applies to the fall and spring semesters, and said course replaces one of the four classes typically taken during a semester. Transportation isn’t provided, and students would be responsible for getting to their classes like any other off-campus commitment.
The announcement has been received with an outpour of support and anticipation with an Instagram post by Princeton receiving over two thousand likes. Many students are already researching courses they can take and fit into their schedule according to Tammy Dieterich, Vice Provost of Academic Engagement, who received over dozens of emails from interested students.
Freshman psychology major Caitlyn Potter was especially excited because she aspires to pivot towards a self-designed major focused in neuroscience, and the opportunity to take a course at Princeton would be extremely beneficial as the College doesn’t have a formulated neuroscience major.
“Princeton has an undergrad neuroscience major and therefore a multitude of classes that are aimed at students who wish to pursue neuroscience,” said Potter. “This collaboration with Princeton offers the opportunity to students to study topics that may not be specialized at TCNJ. This is absolutely beneficial to all the students who wish to branch out and explore new areas of study.”
The partnership was created after around six months of discussion. It was prompted after students at Princeton reported interest in courses at the College, especially in the School of Education.
“The thought was that if [Princeton] students can take a couple classes here, then our students could also take some there,” said Vice Provost of Academic Engagement Tammy Dieterich.
“At TCNJ we’ve always prioritized student engagement in rigorous coursework and this opportunity will give students the ability to take that one step beyond TCNJ,” said Dieterich. “No one college is ever going to offer every possible class, this expands the topics that students can explore during their undergraduate experience.”
Spaces for students to participate in the cross-registration program are limited, and the following criteria will be taken into consideration: a GPA of at least 3.5, a strong rationale for the desired course at Princeton, including its alignment with their major, career goals, and/or research interests and classic standing seniority.
“It’s definitely an exclusive opportunity, we won’t be able to send tons and tons of students every semester, but we’re excited that we get to send any at all,” said Dieterich.
The link for the interest form came out on April 13 with priority deadlines of May 1 for the Fall semester and October 1 for the Spring semester.
Although the partnership is currently only for five years, after seeing how it goes, the future of the agreement will be re-evaluated.
