Options
Option 1: Alternate Plan
With the Alternate Plan, a student will be employed by a participating cooperative employer full-time for a minimum of 10 weeks and a maximum of 25 weeks. The student may be employed in either the local Erie metropolitan area, hometown community, or regionally/nationally. These full-time experiences are limited to the junior and senior year, however, the student may apply for the experiences during the sophomore year. By meeting or exceeding all of the educational learning objectives and completing all academic requirements for evaluation, the student will receive a minimum of 3 academic credits for each successfully completed experience. With this plan, a student can receive a maximum of 12 credit hours for placement experiences. This is also available during summer sessions.
Note: A Co-Op & Externship are paid placements. An Internship is a nonpaid placement (Most students are compensated for their time and work).
Option 2: Parallel Plan
With the Parallel Plan, a student will be employed part-time and will attend school part-time. This plan limits employment opportunities to the Erie metropolitan area. A student who adopts this plan could be awarded 3 hours of academic credit for each successful learning experience. The student successfully completes these experiences by meeting or exceeding all of the educational learning objectives and completing all academic requirements for evaluation. These experiences are for a minimum of 10 weeks or 200 hours. A student may apply for this plan during the sophomore year. If this employment would cover the nine month school year, it is possible for the student to gain 9 academic credits if he/she has completed 600 hours of employment. Summer employment is available under this plan, and a maximum of 12 credit hours is available with any of the above combinations.