My daughter is enrolled in an early college program while still in high school. It's a great way to save money on tuition.

As a 16-year-old, my girl spends her mornings similar immoderate student, taking accepted classes astatine the section high school. But by the afternoon, she is bused to a section acquisition exertion halfway wherever she takes assemblage courses.

She's enrolled successful our Michigan district's aboriginal assemblage program. In this program, students tin postgraduate from precocious schoolhouse with college credits that tin past beryllium transferred to different schoolhouse of their choice. The programme allows up to 60 credits, which is capable to gain an subordinate degree.

The programme extends precocious schoolhouse to a "13th year," meaning that alternatively of graduating arsenic a precocious schoolhouse senior, students successful the aboriginal assemblage programme proceed taking afloat assemblage people loads for escaped aft their senior year.

After the 13th year, they postgraduate with a precocious schoolhouse diploma and the credits they person accumulated successful the program. In our area, precocious schoolhouse students adjacent person the accidental to walk their 13th twelvemonth successful a dorm connected a college campus, with lodging covered for escaped arsenic well.

I'm thankful my girl chose to bash the programme due to the fact that it gives her much clip to fig retired her life's way — each portion redeeming wealth and avoiding student indebtedness debt.

The programme is demanding

My girl is conscionable finishing up her inferior twelvemonth of precocious schoolhouse and her archetypal twelvemonth successful the program. This year, she has taken creation and captious thinking, assemblage algebra, and public speaking.

She is simply a year-round schoolhouse jock and works part-time arsenic well. While she finds the docket demanding astatine times, it's manageable. She told maine that she's wide pleased with her determination to enroll, particularly if it saves her wealth successful the future.

Of course, determination are imaginable drawbacks to the program. My girl won't postgraduate with her class, and the programme takes her off-campus for fractional of the day, which means she misses immoderate events her peers enactment in. Also, due to the fact that aboriginal assemblage courses aren't weighted similar AP classes are, her GPA is affected.

The aboriginal assemblage programme helps her and our family

My girl isn't wholly definite what she wants to large in, truthful aboriginal assemblage makes consciousness for her to gain credits for escaped portion she discerns a career path.

Plus, we are a household of seven, with 5 kids. She's our oldest, truthful we aren't rather acceptable to fto her retired into the satellite conscionable yet. The 13th twelvemonth means she'll beryllium spending 1 much twelvemonth astatine location with us. She's blessed astir that fact, too, particularly due to the fact that she's unsure wherever she wants to spell to assemblage successful the future.

Most importantly, the programme is helping her save money. With 5 kids to enactment done college, we can't spend tuition. Her determination to enroll could mean she earns arsenic overmuch arsenic 2 years of assemblage wholly for free, which is besides 2 years without racking up pupil loans.

We anticipation it volition beryllium worthy it successful the end

We won't genuinely cognize if the programme was worthy it until our girl figures retired her aboriginal path, but for now, we're each blessed with the decision.

Our girl likes the assortment of getting "out" of schoolhouse and traveling to the assemblage center, wherever she has respective friends successful the programme and the added flexibility.

While we don't cognize precisely what the aboriginal holds, we each cognize that she's precisely wherever she needs to beryllium close now.

I'm not successful a hurry for her to unreserved disconnected to an expensive college if she's not definite what she wants, and this gives america a small much clip to discern her adjacent steps.