This spring, thousands of U.S. students received associate degrees before even finishing high school. And we’re not just talking uber dorks. Normal kids are completing college level courses in the middle of prom and spring sports season.
The reason? Money.
Brayan Guevara said he made a goal of earning an associate degree by the time he graduated high school. He was a student in Albany, Minn., and attended classes at St. Cloud Technical & Community College, or SCTCC. The native of Colombia said through the state’s Post Secondary Enrollment Options program, he earned 66 college credits — a savings of two years and more than $10,000.
Young adults with two diplomas are outliers in programs allowing high school students to earn college credits, which operate under various names and formats. They are growing in number at about 7% per year, according to the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, or NACEP.
This is absolutely brilliant for several reasons — first, get all the crap core class out of the way. All the stuff colleges force you to take to get your money for four years. Get them done. Second, learn a little bit more about yourself and your eventual path in life. How many kids go into college knowing zero about what they want to do with their life? I’ll assume 80%. Instead of wasting thousands of dollars “finding themselves”, and spending time on a major they’ll dump by sophomore year, they can explore a bunch of different paths.
Lastly, imagine all the free time these students will have the first year to do random fun shit. And I’m not just talking about partying. I mean road tripping…and then partying, but you see what I’m getting at?!?
[via USA Today]