This semester, hundreds of high school juniors and seniors in Lowndes and Oktibbeha County are getting a head start on higher education through dual enrollment programs.
The idea of allowing high school students to take college courses isn’t exactly new — the concept has been around since Minnesota first offered that option in 1985 — but has caught fire in recent years.
In fact, the Golden Triangle Early High School was founded four years ago with that in mind. This spring, the majority of those in the first graduating class of GTECHS will leave their campus at EMCC-Mayhew with an EMCC associate’s degree or a trade skill certification.
But the opportunity to earn college credits is not confined to GTECHS. There are nearly 300 juniors and seniors taking dual credit courses in the Starkville-Oktibbeha County School District this semester while 133 juniors/seniors in the Lowndes County School District are enrolled in college courses with another 118 students from Columbus Municipal School District enrolled in those classes.
The benefits to students are obvious and often focus on the financial implications of taking college courses at free or greatly reduced costs. For some students, it can mean saving the cost of up to two years of college. That’s no small savings at a time when the financial burden of higher education continues to shift toward tuition and away from taxpayer funding. With the prospects of facing tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, families are looking for every opportunity to reduce costs. Certainly, dual enrollment is a good strategy for that.
But the benefits of dual enrollment aren’t confined to costs.
There is a powerful psychological dynamic in play here, we believe. When a high school student commits to taking college courses, it serves to help the student orient themselves toward life after high school. These college credits represent “skin in the game” with regards to continuing their higher education. There is nothing more encouraging in any kind of race than a fast start, after all. Often, it builds a momentum of its own.
It helps the student think of education as a process that continues. For them, high school graduation is not an end point, but a milestone in their education.
Taking college courses also helps students orient themselves to how college works. We believe that taking college courses helps students take a more mature approach to their education, something that will be demanded of them upon their arrival in college.
For all those reasons, we believe dual enrollment represents a major step forward in education.
We are pleased and encouraged that our schools have provided these programs and even more pleased and encouraged that so many of our students have seized these opportunities.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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