Townsend Harris’s partnership with Queens College will resume in the fall through a new arrangement that will restore seniors’ access to Queens College courses on campus, Principal Brian Condon announced in a letter to students and families sent on Friday.

The renewed partnership will operate through the CUNY College Now program at Queens College, allowing students to take college courses “at no cost to students or families,” Mr. Condon wrote. The agreement marks a significant development after the New York City Department of Education cut all funding for the previous Bridge Program in 2020. In the years since, the need to fund the program entirely from Townsend Harris’s budget has been a major source of financial uncertainty for the school. 

In a message posted by the Townsend Harris Alumni Association (THAA) on Saturday, School Leadership Team member and THAA chairperson Selina Lee shared the news with the wider THHS community. “This plan puts THHS on a path to long-term budgetary stability,” Dr. Lee wrote, noting that it comes with no added cost to the school. “It does not immediately eliminate the financial challenges we have faced in recent years, but it removes one of the school’s most significant long-term financial pressures.”

As part of the new agreement, members of the Class of 2027 will enroll in two college-level Humanities Seminar courses at Queens College, one in the fall and one in the spring.

According to Mr. Condon’s letter, all seniors will have the opportunity to earn at least six college credits through the traditional humanities seminar sequence. In an interview with The Classic, Mr. Condon confirmed that the THHS teachers who have taught the seminar in recent years have been approved to teach the two-semester course sequence through College Now.

All students will also enroll in a college-level elective that students signed up for in March. Some of those courses have also been approved for College Now already, meaning most students will be eligible to earn nine credits altogether through their additional elective course. Mr. Condon said that the school is “working hard to guarantee that all students will have access to the opportunity to earn nine free credits by the end of the school year.”

Both Mr. Condon and Dr. Lee thanked Queens College President Frank Wu and Assistant Vice Presidents Vivek Upadhyay and Jeffrey Rosenstock for working to find this solution. Additionally, they credited Congresswoman Grace Meng, State Senator John Liu, Assemblymembers Sam Berger and Nily Rozic, and City Council Member James Gennaro for supporting THHS through the negotiating process.

Earlier this year, The Classic reported on how College Now at Queens College works. In an interview with The Classic, Marci Goodman, the College Now Director at Queens College, spoke about the benefits of the program. “We want students to feel comfortable and to adjust to the difference between high school and college,” said Ms. Goodman. “That’s the idea: Having an actual college experience while you’re in high school to ease your transition to college and put you on the path to becoming a successful college student.”

The restored Queens College agreement follows a transitional year in which THHS worked with St. John’s University’s College Advantage Program (CAP) to preserve college-credit opportunities for seniors after the previous QC model was paused.

Under the St. John’s CAP program, Townsend Harris teachers were approved to teach St. John’s courses by submitting resumes, transcripts, and syllabi for review. Assistant Principal of English Ryan Dunbar said the transition allowed the school to preserve “universal access to free college credits for seniors” at a time when the previous partnership had become financially difficult to sustain.

THHS teachers taught both a modified version of the Humanities Seminar through SJU English courses as well as SJU electives. In the past, seniors would sign up for electives at QC taught by QC professors. 

The new College Now model will be similar in that THHS teachers will be approved through Queens College and College Now to offer college level courses based on their credentials and available QC course offerings, Mr. Condon said.  

Rising seniors expressed confidence in THHS teachers to run college-level classes at QC.  Incoming senior class president Jordana Lo said, “I have trust in our faculty to teach the courses well and support our seniors in transitioning to QC level courses.” 

Rising senior Thafreeh Tariq said that “regardless it’s valuable to learn from teachers who are acting as adjunct professors, this will ensure us a more authentic college experience. As long as students continue to earn college credit, I think the partnership will still be a great opportunity.” 

On the other hand, some students believe that having professors on the QC faculty would be more beneficial to the students. Junior Atish Hoq said that “having classes taught by professors who only really work with college students would almost certainly prepare students better for college.” Nonetheless, he said that he has “no doubt that the THHS faculty are more than capable to teach these students like any other professor.”

THHS social studies teacher Grace Kent, who taught sociology and anthropology through St. John’s at THHS last year, said college-level courses help students practice the kind of reading and writing they will be expected to do after high school. She said she wanted students to learn how to approach difficult texts, develop more complex arguments, and “interact with scholarship in new and meaningful ways.”

Under the new arrangement with Queens College, Ms. Kent will be able to offer sociology to students through QC’s College Now program as early as this fall.

Still, some students said last year’s arrangement with St. John’s did not offer the same range of options they had hoped to have. The new arrangement with College Now is unlikely to solve that issue right away. Rising senior Uma Tevlin said she wanted more STEM-based college classes, including courses such as multivariable calculus or linear algebra, which she said had previously been available through the former QC Bridge Program. Most of the courses offered, both through SJU and now the QC College Now program, have been humanities-based courses. Uma said she did not think that “represents the student body very well” because many students are interested in STEM. 

As Queens College again becomes the central partner for senior college-level courses, Mr. Condon told The Classic the school’s relationship with St. John’s University will continue in a different role, allowing THHS to “significantly expand dual enrollment opportunities for sophomores and juniors.”

English teacher Brian Sweeney, who helped coordinate the SJU and the College Now plans, described the past year as “an opportunity to rethink” how THHS brings college-level work into the high school experience, saying the school will look for ways to “increase access to the whole school to early college opportunities.”

Since CAP allows sophomores and juniors to take courses for college credit, Mr. Sweeney said that a number of courses that sophomores and juniors often take could be offered as CAP courses going forward. Seniors would also remain eligible to take CAP courses, alongside their College Now courses, just as they’ve always taken AP courses in addition to bridge year courses. He said students would be offered the chance to enroll in these CAP courses but would be asked to pay for the credits, which cost $325. Those credits would be in addition to the credits seniors will now earn for free through College Now.

“Earning up to 9 tuition-free college credits while we are still in high school is definitely important and convenient,” said Thafreeh. “I hope the partnership continues to grow and remains stable for future classes.”

Incoming seniors who spoke to The Classic shared a general sense of gratitude for the return of the partnership. “I am thrilled that our senior class will be able to have the opportunities that this partnership has brought previously. I think that this specific program has been one of the highlights that seniors have looked forward to because of its unique educational experience,” Jordana said. 

Atish said that the partnership “is a very core part of the THHS experience” and hopes that it will help seniors “ease into the college experience.”

While the new agreement restores THHS’s academic partnership with Queens College, access to Queens College athletic facilities remains unresolved, Mr. Condon said. After the previous Bridge Program was paused, Queens College informed THHS that the school would be charged for continued access to athletic spaces, including the track, tennis courts, and auxiliary gym space.

Mr. Condon told The Classic that “discussions regarding access to athletic facilities at Queens College for our PE classes and our student athletes remain ongoing.” He added that the school is “hopeful that a solution can be reached” and will continue working with Queens College on the issue.

Mr. Condon said that restoring college coursework is “only the beginning” of what the two institutions can accomplish together.

Additional reporting by Editor-in-Chief Yasmeen Ismail.