We are extremely proud to offer our high school students entrance into our Middle College program, where they can take free college courses for real college credit.

We have all heard the phrase “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” and usually we are smart to run away from get-rich-quick schemes or internet offers. But every once in a while, something comes along that seems too good to be true that is as real as your hopes for a bright future for your kids.

Middle College is a collaboration between a high school and a college or university to allow high school students who qualify to enroll in and take college courses for credit. Students take a combination of core high school courses and college courses to receive their diploma and graduate. The core classes are provided by teachers employed by the high school while the college courses are taken alongside real college students at the college.
 
One of the many goals of a middle college program is simply to expose high school students who might not otherwise enroll in higher education to the college environment, demystify the college experience, and get those students working toward degrees. This helps the students, many of whom will be the first generation in their families to attend college, to build a solid belief in themselves, to stay in school and succeed, and to integrate directly into college from high school.

Pikes Peak Prep is the first high school ever to be invited by Pikes Peak Community College to maintain a satellite classroom on its campus. There, our students will enroll in college classes that will create a permanent college record and result in permanent college credit. Take a moment to think of every high school in your area, every so-called rich school, every so-called poor school, every public school, parochial school, private school and every other charter school. They were not asked to do this.

But we were.

Your children were.

So, what does this mean to my son our daughter and the rest of our family?

The best part is this chance is free to you and your bright young child. If we talked only about dollars and cents, this opportunity is a ten thousand dollar value to your son or daughter. Here’s how we come up with that number:

The cost for a college course is based on a “credit hour.” If a class meets for three hours a week, it’s called a “three credit hour” class. To be able to take that class, you have to pay for three credit hours at the rate the school charges. For example, currently, Pikes Peak Community College charges $166 for each credit hour a student signs up to take.

In our unique partnership with PPCC, it’s possible for a student who starts early to take as many as 60 credit hours of classes at PPCC while she is a high school student at Pikes Peak Prep. 60 credit hours at $166 per hour, comes to $9,960. Because credit hour charges increase over the years, one of our students can receive – free – a 60-hour Associates Degree worth $10,000 or more.

If a student isn’t able to complete 60 credit hours in his or her high school career with us, no matter. Those credit hours remain on his or her permanent college record and no one can take that away. Whatever classes your child is able to take – however many or however few – your child is that much ahead of high school students all across the country who do not have this chance.

Why should my child take some college courses now, during high school?

The most practical reason to allow your child to get free college credits during high school is, in fact, because they are free. After high school, there are very few ways to get a free college education. Athletic and academic scholarships are getting harder and harder to come by, and harder and harder work to get. At Pikes Peak Prep, your child simply has to take a qualifying test called the AccuPlacer to determine whether they qualify for college courses. (If they don’t qualify, we’ll work to help them reach that goal.) Everyone who hopes to enroll in a college must take some kind of test to determine their qualification.

Another reason to let your child pursue college credits during high school is to get them a head start on other kids of their generation. It is almost unbelievable to think a child can graduate high school and get both a high school diploma and a college degree at the same time. But it is possible.

A third reason is that your son or daughter will be able to show a college, when he or she graduates from high school, that college is a good bet for them. Showing good college grades from ABC College to XYZ University makes it more likely that XYZ University will accept you into their programs. XYZ University sees you as more likely to get good grades at their college than an unknown who hasn’t taken any college classes yet.

What can my child do after taking these college classes? How can these college courses work for them?

Taking advantage of this chance provides a number of choices for your child. It’s all about choices. After taking these first college courses, your child may wish to go to a technical college and become a mechanic, or attend a business college and become a paralegal, or a medical assistant, or a medical records transcriptionist (or something with an even longer name!).

Your child may wish to complete a traditional four-year degree program. Does he like art? He can decide to pursue a degree in art therapy or fine arts. Does she play a lot of video games and want to create some of her own? She can continue in the computer sciences. Some will decide to go on to medical school or law school. Why not? There will be nothing – nothing – stopping them.

The point is your child will have choices that would not otherwise be available.

Student loans may be getting harder and harder to come by. Establishing a successful college career may increase the likelihood of securing a student loan.

And don’t forget that often-quoted statistic that adults with a college degree make over their lifetime $1 million more than adults without a college education.

Consider these 2001 statistics that compare the average yearly earnings of a high school dropout, a high school graduate, and a college graduate with a bachelor’s degree:

Over many years, and factoring in any promotions for college graduates, differences among the categories become almost unbelievable. Even without any consideration for promotions, over a 40-year career a college graduate makes $1,280,000 more than a high school dropout. Ouch.

What else will my child get from all this?

Beyond advantages getting into other colleges and other programs, and in addition to a greater income over the course of their life, there are other advantages to pursuing college credit during high school.

First, they have the advantage of taking college courses from teachers they know. Two of our teachers will staff our college campus classroom. Also, they are transported to and from college by us, and they have our staff to ask for help when they encounter a difficult concept.

But second – and this is something we take very seriously – your child will have the honor of being a positive example to other students in this school.

We serve many children who, unfortunately, think college is not a realistic option for them. Through this partnership with PPCC, we show that it is not only possible for any one of our students to go to college, but our children will actually see upper-classmen going to and coming from college. It’s real, and your child can be a part of that.

Also (and this is where the goose bumps come in), your child will be, in a very real sense, a pioneer. He or she will be able to proudly say that they were part of a new program that offered free college educations to students who otherwise might not go to college.

When your daughter is the next Ray Kroc, the entrepreneur who made McDonald’s restaurants a household name, or your son the next Bill Gates, or a successful doctor, nurse, accountant, operations manager, artistic director, historian, teacher, five-star General, author, or film composer, they can return to this school and show the next generation of youngsters that everything is possible. Sometimes all you need is a boost.

If you have any more questions about this program, please feel comfortable contacting:

Director of Middle Colleges Mary Perez at mary.perez@geoacademies.org or at 719-964-9544