Indiana teen Raven Osborne received her bachelor’s degree this month — a couple weeks before earning her high school diploma.
“She came to me, ninth grade year and told me this is what she wanted to do, so she already had a vision,” says Krishelle Murphy, secondary guidance counselor at 21st Century Charter School at Gary, where Osborne attended school. “She was motivated and even if she faced adversity, she kept going and pressing on. She persevered and never gave up.”
Osborne earned the credentials concurrently by taking college courses every semester — including in the summer — beginning in ninth grade, says Murphy, along with a few online courses. Some courses provided dual credit, meaning Osborne received both high school and college credit for her work in one course.
[Learn more about taking online college courses in high school.]
It’s not impossible for students nationwide to achieve this feat, though it’s not particularly common, either. Teens can follow the steps below to earn an associate degree — or even a bachelor’s — while in high school, keeping in mind that doing so is a challenging, but rewarding feat.
1. Figure out what options are available: Some districts are home to public early colleges, which are designed to allow teens to earn college and high school credit concurrently, says Tara Boddie, a private educational consultant and former guidance director at DeKalb Early College Academy in Georgia.
The Indiana charter school Osborne attended follows a similar design, Murphy says. Students take college courses at the charter school and at nearby colleges.
However, these programs are not widespread, Boddie says.
But most public two- and four-year public colleges have dual enrollment programs, according to federal data. Teens elsewhere could take advantage of these programs that allow students to earn high school and college credit concurrently.
Students should talk with their counselors about these opportunities, Boddie says.
2. Start planning early: Parents of students aiming for a bachelor’s degree in high school need to be very diligent, says Boddie. Students should be prepared to start taking college courses in ninth grade and every summer. Sometimes students may need to take a larger than usual course load, she says.
She recommends families begin planning in middle school.
Early colleges, like the one Boddie worked at, may have special admissions requirements, such as an interview and essays.
Community colleges may require high schoolers take a placement test or meet other academic qualifications to participate in dual enrollment programs.
While some dual credit opportunities are free to students, others may require students to pay tuition — something else for parents to keep in mind.
3. Determine if teens are ready for college courses: It takes a motivated student who is able to accept challenges, failures and successes to complete a college and high school credential concurrently, says Murphy. Students also need to have the intellect to do this, she says.
Parents may face some discouragement from high school officials when inquiring about signing up their ninth or 10th grader for dual credit opportunities, says Boddie. But if a student thrived in middle school and has already taken advanced high school courses, she encourages them to push back to get their child into these courses.
David Lane, director of Roane State Middle College in Tennessee — which is similar to an early college program — doesn’t think a student needs to necessarily be academically gifted, though that may help, to succeed in college early. But the student does need to be motivated — and that can’t come from the parents. About 40 students received an associate degree and high school diploma through the program this month.
But students need to remember that the road will not be easy, Murphy says.
“There’s going to be times when you feel like you can’t go on,” she says. Students have to be self-motivated and keep their goal in the forefront of their mind to accomplish it.
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3 Steps to Take to Graduate College Before High School originally appeared on usnews.com
