I like the middle college/early college high school model a lot too. We have a similar option in my school, which is heavily populated with families without college experience, and many students who don't perceive themselves as academic. Any student 10th grade and up can elect to take a course, starting with one entry-level course paired with a support course, proceedinig potentially to a full course load of core academics in 11th and 12th grades (electives still at the high school), typically in a high school-aged cohort, which then results in an AA degree. There are DE coordinators at both the college and the high school tracking all of these students, and a support class run by the high school throughout the process.

This has huge advantages especially for first-generation college students, who both don't have the benefit of prior college experience coming from their families, and also often don't have the financial resources to start college without working at the same time. Plus, in our state, an AA or AS degree from a CC, with a minimum GPA, guarantees admission with full transfer of credits to at least one of the state four years, typically at reduced tuition.


...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...