SALT LAKE CITY — There are 16 public universities and colleges, but those campuses aren’t just filled with college students anymore. High schoolers are now dipping their toes into higher education, too.
Over the past decade, the Utah System of Higher Education has seen more students get involved with Concurrent Enrollment due to the money and time it can save.
Geoffrey Landward, the Commissioner for Higher Education in the state, shared how students taking college courses in high school are more likely to graduate from college.
“We have over 70,000 students that take some sort of concurrent enrollment while they’re in high school, and every year, we get more and more students wanting to do that," Landward said. "It’s a good way to get college credit, get credit in high school, and it’s really inexpensive."
An average student will save over $2,000 on college credit by the time they graduate high school.
“Parents and students saved over $125 million in tuition that they didn’t have to pay in credit over time,” Landward added.
At Salt Lake Community College, Ken Perko, the Interim Director of Concurrent Enrollment, is seeing their courses fill up.
“The concurrent enrollment program at Salt Lake Community College has really seen a lot of expansion. What that really means is students are getting to try college while still in high school. They’re able to get credits for much less. It’s 5 dollars a credit hour,” Perko said.
Whether it’s English, Biology, or a technical course, there are options for students to try what they’re interested in.
“We had 13,000 students registered in spring semester," Perko explained. "That's up from 8,000 a few years ago."
College credit can also help get students into their career field a bit faster.
“It’s important we feel for students who feel they can’t be successful in college if they have an opportunity to take a class that’s a college course… and see that they can do it; it gives them that confidence to say, maybe college is for me,” Landward said.
