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TEST DRIVE COLLEGE ONLINE ASSESSES STUDENTS’ COLLEGE COMMITMENT

South Florida-based Education Marketing & Technology Firm Offers Students FREE Online Courses

Source: BOCA RATON, FL
Date: December 23, 2010;

Throughout Florida and across the country, college student dropout rates continue to climb at alarming rates. Richard Capezzali, Executive Vice President at Education Dynamics, has created a solution for colleges and universities that improves student retention and graduation rates. Based in Boca Raton, Capezzali is an entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience in proprietary higher education. His latest venture, Test Drive College Online, offers prospective students an opportunity to enroll in a credit-bearing online course for free.

The purpose is to provide students a no cost, no risk occasion to experience college-level learning and the online classroom environment before choosing a degree program, paying tuition or taking out student loans. For colleges, the Test Drive model creates an avenue to identify potential students with a high probability of success; thereby more apt to stay with a degree program since the students understand the demands of college. Successful students can transfer the earned credits to a partner college, but the course remains free for the student.

Capezzali is the creative force behind such successful education industry ventures as Education Connection (think College in Pajamas). Earlier this year he sold Education Connection to Education Dynamics, and introduced Test Drive College Online based on an earlier pilot project called Future Scholars. Over 400 students participated in Future Scholars, and as a result of enrolling in an online course and assessment program, showed a higher completion rate than students who enrolled in degree programs without this assistance.

"By now students understand the benefits of taking courses online towards a college degree because they can attend classes around family responsibilities and work schedules," said Capezzali, "However, not everyone is comfortable with the online format, or is motivated enough to succeed in college. In many situations, online courses can prove more challenging to the student than a traditional classroom setting. Test Drive College gives the student confidence in their ability to perform well in an degree program online, and the financial incentive of starting college with a free course worth as much as $2,000," Capezzali continued.

For businesses that offer tuition reimbursement programs for employees, Test Drive College Online helps promote these benefits and improve an employee’s success rate in continuing education. Since online degree programs are well-suited for the demands of working professionals, Test Drive College allows employees to see firsthand how online courses fit with their professional and personal lives. This assessment process saves time, paperwork and money for the employer by making sure applicants for the tuition reimbursement have an accurate picture of online college and the challenges ahead.

Test Drive College is currently partnered with San Diego Christian College, Stevens-Henager College, and Kaplan University. A graduate school platform, Test Drive Grad School, was recently launched with Florida-based Saint Leo University as an alliance university.

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