Imagine you could graduate college and high school at the same time. What a time saver! Well, if you were thinking about this possibility, you’d need to consider taking college classes while in high school. With college classes, there are a lot of things to think about, like the extra work, different classes, and how many you can take at one time. 

“College classes are challenging, but not near impossible,” said sophomore Kamryn McCauley. “Everyone in a college class has to manage their time wisely.” 

Kya Keller, sophomore, said, “Try to have your assignments done prior to the due date, that’s how I stay ahead.”  

College classes are very difficult, both McCauley and Keller said, but in the end, they’re worth it. College classes were recommended by experts and both Keller and McCauley who are currently working on their second class of the year. Taking college classes during high school is a way to earn credits and graduate from college earlier. 

If you take college classes in high school, at least at Doniphan West High School, you don’t have to worry about costs or money. When you take college classes in high school, at least at Doniphan West High School, you don’t have to worry about costs or money, because Highland Community College covers the cost of textbooks, tuition, and fees. Students may still be required to pay a consumable fee, depending on the class. 

Doniphan West doesn’t have a direct charge either; however, there are some charges in the form of human capital and employee salaries that our school district provides to support the students who choose to participate in the Early College program.

Senior Ava Gladhart said she will have earned 46 credits from HCC during high school. The cost per credit hour is $147, so she has saved $6,762.

As long as Doniphan West students take one online college class, they get one dual credit study hall in their school schedule. This can be very helpful to get assignments done and not fall behind; however, you will most likely still need to work on assignments outside of this extra class, as the college workload can be quite a bit. McCauley said, “It’s a very useful hour to catch up.” 

Most college classes are only a semester long, with a few exceptions of concurrent classes. Most of the DWHS students in college classes take two classes per year at a minimum. Students can’t take college classes until their sophomore year, with the approval from the principal and school counselor. 

When taking your first college class during your sophomore year, there is usually a limit to one per semester because of many reasons. One of them is that a college GPA stays with you forever, so if you get low grades, it will impact your ability to gain financial aid and scholarships before you even start college. 

After sophomore year you can take more classes depending on your career path and individual plan of study. Highland Community College allows a student to take up to 18 college credits per semester, which is about 4-6 college courses. It’s very difficult to manage that many courses per semester and high school student life, so most students only take 2-3 courses per semester. 

When it comes to selecting which classes to take, DWHS counselor Mrs. Schneider helps students enroll, but the student must ultimately decide.

Mrs. Schneider said, “Having an incomplete IPS or an undecided career path makes it very difficult to choose classes, resulting in students not taking these classes for a period of time until they make some tough decisions about their future.” 

So far there has been a positive increase in the number of students taking college classes. Since the summer of 2023, there has been an increase of over 30% of students (10th-12th grades) taking college courses. One example would be that 53% of the juniors were enrolled in college classes in the fall of 2023, but in the spring of 2024, 84% of them were taking at least one college course.

There are pros and cons of any student taking a college course while still in high school. Students considering taking a college course should talk to their parents and Mrs. Schneider before fully committing to a course.