East Central Community College and Meridian Community College students with an associate’s degree in applied science will soon be able to obtain their bachelor’s degrees through a program at Mississippi State University. 

ECCC and MCC both signed agreements with MSU Wednesday in Meridian. 

The agreements outline a pathway for MCC and ECCC students to complete MSU’s Bachelor of Applied Science program, which was launched last August.

The program is targeted at adults who have completed a technical associate’s degree program through a community college or the military and need additional education to advance their careers, according to a news release.

Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Applied Science program will have access to advisors from MSU-Meridian and MSU Online. They can take courses at Starkville, online or at the MSU Meridian campus.

“It allows more of our students to transfer to Mississippi State,” said Billy Stewart, president of ECCC. “In other words, their associate of applied science degree…when it may have been an end in the past, can now simply be a beginning.”

Stewart said courses at ECCC provide students workforce skills, while the MSU courses  will provide skills in management or leadership.

“It will have a strong impact and will open doors for our students,” said MCC president Tom Huebner.  

MSU President Mark Keenum said the partnerships will help students who aren’t taking the traditional academic route to get a degree at MSU.  

“We can open up the opportunity for students to get a bachelor’s without having to start all over again as a freshman,” he said.