There isn’t an instruction manual for college,” says Franco LaPorta. Like many students at Chicago Public Schools, LaPorta believes that his transition from high school to college would have been tough had he been forced to brave it alone.
“Leaving high school and going to college is a big leap, especially when we might not have the knowledge to overcome it,” LaPorta says. However, during his senior year at Hancock High School in West Elsdon in 2013, LaPorta took part in the City Colleges of Chicago’s Dual Enrollment program, in which high school students are given the opportunity to take courses at local community colleges for college credit—for free.
As one of approximately three thousand students involved in the program, LaPorta was able to get a taste of college life and a head start on his college education, all while saving thousands of dollars in fees and still enrolled in his local high school. “Still being a senior in high school, I’m able to witness first-hand the way that a college class is like, and how it differs from, a high school class,” he says.
According to Nikole Muzzy, senior communications officer at City Colleges of Chicago, the program is only growing in terms of enrollment rates and funding sources. It was expanded substantially in 2011, and is expected to increase again during the 2016-2017 school year, with seats opening for 6,100 CPS juniors and seniors.
Because students take classes for free, the City Colleges of Chicago has had to cut “administrative redundancies” in order to funnel money towards the program, which, in combination with donations from private donors like General Electric, has allowed it to continue to grow in the face of school closures and other city policies affecting public education.
The dual enrollment program can be a godsend for low-income students who want to save money on college, says Nikole Muzzy. “We have had students accumulate enough credits during high school that when they matriculate to City Colleges after high school graduation, they are able to complete an associate degree in one year,” Muzzy explains. “Most students need two years to complete an associate degree.”
High school students must meet certain academic criteria to be able to participate in the dual enrollment program. In order to be eligible to take any college classes, students must meet an overall 2.5 grade point average and have at least ninety-percent class attendance. Some classes come with more specific requirements. “In order to take this class [English 101],” says LaPorta, “you need a nineteen or higher on the reading part of the ACT.” Similar scores are mandated in the writing and math sections of the test as well.
While the barrier to entry remains high for the vast majority of CPS high schoolers, the dual enrollment program seems to be earning positive marks so far from students and teachers alike, and offers a light at the end of the tunnel that high school life can be.
As both a transition into the real world of college and a valuable way to save money while earning college credit, the Dual Enrollment program is slowly making adults out of young high school teenagers. When asked about how the program was helping him prepare for college, LaPorta’s friend Jose Angulo replied, “There’s no more preparing for college; we’re in college now.”