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Students Enroll Earlier in Higher Education

Posted on: Monday, 5 June 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Amy Coutee, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Jun. 5--Waiting to start college after graduating from high school is so 1980.

This month, almost 2,500 local students will leave high school with anywhere from three to more than 30 college credits. A few will even be close to, or already have, an associate's degree.

Bryan Hicklin and Ashley Sheridan , two Norfolk high school seniors, say they are already college sophomores.

With all of the college credits he has earned, Hicklin expects to graduate from college early. The Maury High School student signed up for Norfolk Public Schools' and Tidewater Community College's version of dual enrollment -- the Middle College High School program -- because he was "looking for something more advanced."

Sheridan wanted to get a head start on her dream of becoming a nurse and then an obstetrician/gynecologist .

"I needed to start early. I have to pay for college all by myself," Sheridan said. The Granby High student knows that getting through medical school could take the better part of a decade.

With that in the back of her mind, she enrolled in Middle College, which began in 2004.

Hicklin and Sheridan plan to stay at TCC for another year. After that Hicklin wants to transfer to Old Dominion University or Virginia Tech to pursue a degree in computer engineering or business, and Sheridan wants to apply to nursing school.

Nearly 20,000 high school students in Virginia took dual-enrollment classes this year -- in everything from English to computer science -- which allow them to earn college and high school credits simultaneously.

Several hundred more are taking college courses on their own or through programs such as Chesapeake schools' College in the Afternoon and Portsmouth schools' First College program. Both are partnerships with Tidewater Community College.

Proponents say dual-enrollment courses increase the likelihood of students enrolling in and graduating from college with a degree. They also say that the programs ease the transition from high school to college.

Not everyone believes dual-enrollment benefits students, though.

Experts have suggested that the quality of instruction in dual-enrollment courses is not as rigorous as that of a traditional college course.

Retired educator Carol Dougan supports that theory. Writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dougan said that while the programs may help more students graduate from college, they do not truly benefit .

According to Dougan, formerly dean of business and computer science at Gaston College, many high school students need more time to learn to think critically, write effectively and analyze mathematical concepts.

Yet, rising college costs may make dual enrollment courses -- and the head start they provide -- even more appealing in the coming years.

And around South Hampton Roads, where the community colleges and public schools in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Isle of Wight are looking to expand dual-enrollment course offerings, they are becoming easier to find.

Chesapeake Public Schools offers three dual-enrollment courses in English and environmental and computer sciences now.

James Rayfield , Chesapeake's director of secondary curriculum and instruction, said dual enrollment will be added to Oscar Smith High soon and "then we hope to expand the other course offerings."

This year, 200 students are in Chesapeake's dual enrollment courses through TCC, and Rayfield said he expects enrollment to climb.

One reason, according to Rayfield, is that kids can stay at the high school where they are comfortable and still get a taste of college-level work.

This year, Suffolk Public Schools, through a partnership with Paul D. Camp Community College, began giving high school students the chance to earn an associate's degree while still in high school.

Isle of Wight had 25 to 30 students enrolled in three different dual enrollment courses this year.

The division paid the tuition for the first eight students enrolled in each class.

Next year, Isle of Wight will offer five dual enrollment courses, in history, math, political science, art history and psychology, through Paul D. Camp.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools, which has had dual enrollment English for about 10 years through TCC, is planning to expand its dual enrollment offerings. Enrollment climbed from 193 in 2002-2003 to 299 this school year.

During the 2004-2005 school year, 973 students took dual enrollment courses through Thomas Nelson Community College and 417 were at Paul D. Camp. This year TCC had 942 dual enrollment students.

The Thomas Nelson and TCC numbers have more than doubled in the past seven years.

The Virginia Community College System aims to have 45,000 students in dual enrollment by 2009. This year there were 19,525 dual-enrolled students in Virginia.

When it comes to finding a way to pay for college and make sure kids get there in the first place, dual enrollment could be the answer.

Mathias Soucek graduated from Virginia Tech with a psychology degree in May -- a year before he was expected to finish.

"It wasn't something that I had planned," said Soucek, 21, who took so many dual-enrollment courses through Paul D. Camp while at Franklin High that he graduated from Tech in three years. "It was just surprising."

Linda Soucek, Mathias' mother, said she and husband Howie estimate that they saved about $12,000 in college tuition as a result.

"It's such a great way to get started," said Linda Soucek, an advanced placement English teacher at Franklin High. "If their children are going to college, it's a very inexpensive way to get a head start."

* Reach Amy Coutee at (757) 222-5562 or amy.coutee@pilotonline.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Virginian-Pilot

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