By Katelyn Needham/reporter

TCC Connect is helping students balance work and personal lives while earning degrees by offering new monthly course options.

Classes began Sept. 5, but registration is still open for classes offered Oct. 2-27, Nov. 6-30 and Dec. 4-29.

Monthly options give students opportunities to earn up to four credit hours in a month.

“Creating more entry points to enroll in online courses provides students greater access to education,” TCC Connect president Carlos Morales said. “This allows them to complete their degree in a shorter period of time. TCC Connect Campus is the closest campus as it is just a few keystrokes away.”

Seventeen new courses are offered, including computer science, English, government, history, kinesiology and psychology. Courses are worth three credit hours except for kinesiology, which is one. The classes will be Oct. 2-27, Nov. 6-30 and Dec. 4-29.

“As the only accredited virtual campus in Texas, this is another example of how our online and accelerated education opportunity allows us to intentionally provide TCC students with greater access to education because we understand the flexibility needed by the nontraditional student,” Morales said.

About 20,000 students are enrolled in online classes, and an additional 575 students are enrolled in Weekend College.

Connect offers more than 1,100 options with more than 350 courses online.

Lance McCluskey is one of the students enrolled in a new monthly course.

“The Army is paying for my school,” McCluskey said. “So I’m taking full advantage of going to school super full time to graduate sooner. I’m taking the government monthlong class in October to try to ease the burden of this semester.”

McCluskey also attends classes on campus. He is taking 25 credit hours this semester.

“I like the convenience of online classes,” he said. “I can push off online classroom work to whenever I need to before the due date. There’s flexibility in almost every way.”