High
schoolers get a jump on college
More and more students taking
courses over the summer or in their spare time
Monday, July 04, 2005 • BY KELLY HEYBOER •
Star-Ledger Staff
Curious about psychology and eager to get
a head start, Atisha Patel called Camden County College and
asked if high school students could take classes.
To her surprise, school officials said
yes. So Patel, a high school sophomore from Voorhees, signed
up to take Basic Psychology over her summer vacation two
years ago.
Patel's mother would drop her off on the
college's Cherry Hill campus, where the girl, then 16, tried
to blend in and keep up with the older students. She
struggled to earn a C in the course, but was
hooked.
"It was a great experience. After the
class, I felt myself maturing," said Patel, now 18. Over the
course of her high school career, Patel took a half-dozen
college-level courses at Camden County College, Drexel
University and Johns Hopkins University.
Patel, who will be a freshman at Drexel
this fall, is among the growing number of high school
students getting a jump on college. Some get a taste of
higher education through summer programs for gifted students
at top universities; others take college classes
online.
But most enroll in courses at their local
county colleges, either on their own or through a growing
number of programs offered through their high
schools.
Last fall, nearly 5,200 high school
students took classes at New Jersey's 19 community colleges,
according to a first-ever statewide survey of the
trend.
The number of high school students
enrolled in the public, two-year colleges ranged from 22 at
Cumberland County College to more than 1,200 at Camden
County College, according to the report, which is due to be
released this week by the New Jersey Council of County
Colleges.
Though high school students make up less
than 4 percent of the county college population, those
numbers will rise as more colleges form partnerships, said
Lawrence Nespoli, president of the statewide county college
group.
"It's just such a no-brainer," Nespoli
said. "Too many of them are unchallenged in their senior
year. Let's not waste any of that senior year."
In 2003, then-Gov. James E. McGreevey and
state Education Commissioner William Librera launched the
"12th Grade Option" program to help combat "senioritis." The
program encouraged high schools to offer new options to
seniors, including internships and county college courses
for credit.
The programs, called dual enrollment,
vary by district. Some send students to nearby colleges,
while others bring college professors to their high schools.
In many cases, the credits students earn can be transferred
to their future colleges.
Christine Lomiguen earned enough college
credits to pick up an associate's degree in science at Union
County College this May, a few weeks shy of her high school
graduation from Union County Magnet School in Scotch
Plains.
She was the third high school student to
earn a degree at the college in the past five years, school
officials said.
Lomiguen was able to earn about half of
the 60 credits she needed for the college degree by taking
courses through a partnership her high school has with Union
County College. She earned the other half by registering for
college courses after school and during the
summer.
Though her parents were worried she was
pushing herself too hard, Lomiguen said she had a good time
sampling college courses like criminal justice and
introduction to radio broadcasting.
"They thought I was crazy. But, I don't
know. I think I had a lot of confidence," said Lomiguen, of
Fanwood.
Lomiguen, 18, will attend Rutgers
University's engineering school in Piscataway this fall.
Most of her county college credits will transfer, giving her
a two-year jump on her classmates.
New Jersey is among several states
adopting the dual enrollment idea for high school students.
Nationwide, nearly 813,000 high school students took
college-level courses during the 2002-2003 school year,
according to a study by the National Center for Educational
Statistics released last spring.
Nearly 77 percent of those students took
their courses through their local county colleges. They
joined a small, but growing, community of home-schooled
students who turn to two-year colleges for science lab
courses and other classes their parents don't have the
equipment or expertise to offer at home.
Last year, the average full-time county
college student in New Jersey paid $2,235 in tuition, about
half the average base tuition at New Jersey's four-year
public colleges. But many county colleges allow high school
students to take classes at a reduced tuition or for
free.
Not everyone is convinced getting high
school students started on college work early is a good
idea. Critics say some parents may be rushing their children
into advanced courses in the race to get into top
colleges.
Some college officials also say their
schools were not designed to accommodate growing numbers of
minors roaming campus unsupervised.
At Camden County College, President
Phyllis Della Vecchia said her staff interviews high school
students and their parents before enrolling them in classes
to make sure they know what to expect.
County colleges, with their low tuition
and open enrollment, were founded on the idea that they
would adapt to the needs of the community, Della Vecchia
said. These days, that means offering courses where
16-year-olds sit in classrooms beside
85-year-olds.
"This is part of the tried and true
academic mission of county colleges," Della Vecchia said.
"It's our base. This is where our students come from, the
high schools. We would be foolish not to work with
them."
Kelly Heyboer covers higher education. She can be reached
at kheyboer@starledger.com or (973) 392-5929.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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