Iowa Western Community College has teamed up with Iowa State University to provide students with a fully transferable pre-engineering program. Officials at Iowa Western told The Daily NonPareil an agreement between the schools will allow students to take two semesters of engineering and general education classes before transferring to ISU to complete a bachelor’s degree. The new program allows for all credits to be transferred, and will benefit students who need extra time to increase college entry exam scores while providing courses at a lower rate.

Once a student transfers to Iowa State, he or she can enroll in one the university’s many engineering programs, which include agricultural, bio-renewable, aerospace, mechanical and several others. Students in the program have an academic advisor at both schools. School officials say the agreement could open the door for similar sharing programs between Iowa Western and Iowa State.

About 30 students have already enrolled in pre-engineering program. Iowa Western has just fewer than 7,000 students. The engineering enrollment at Iowa State this year is 8,284.