By Marisa Burd

Editor-in-Chief

---

Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors can always find time to be thinking about senior year and how they want to spend it.

The Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, located in Lancaster city, is partnering with Red Lion High School starting next school year.

This new type of Dual Enrollment program gives seniors the opportunity to commute to Thaddeus Stevens during a normal high school day and get ahead on college credits while continuing to receive their high school credits that are mandatory to graduate.

“If you still need an English credit, Thaddeus Stevens will fulfill the credit you need to graduate,” said Mrs.Morris, the head of the career center at the high school.

Morris also calls Thaddeus Stevens “very flexible” with students when scheduling classes.

The Thaddeus Stevens website specifically refers to this program as Early Enrollment and specifies that it is different than the usual “Dual Enrollment.” Dual Enrollment offers high school seniors to take both high school and college courses, whereas Early Enrollment gives a high school student the opportunity to take college courses full-time.

While taking on college classes full time, Early Enrollment students will still be considered a student at Red Lion. They will be able to participate in sports, extracurricular activities, and attend events like homecoming and prom.

The first class of a typical day starts at 8:00 a.m. and the last available class for an Early Enrollment student is at 4:30 p.m. Classes scheduled from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. will be set specifically for the Thaddeus Stevens programs.

Applications for the Early Enrollment program are accepted from juniors in high school only by Thaddeus Stevens.

According to the Thaddeus Stevens educational website, all of the 22 majors are offered to the high school students who are a part of the Early Enrollment program.

Each day classes are scheduled, the students must attend the Lancaster campus with their own source of transportation.

“The biggest bonus with Thaddeus Stevens is that as a senior you only pay half tuition,” said Mrs.Morris, “And at the end of your senior year, you receive your diploma and you’re one year ahead of the rest of your classmates.”

Once accepted into this program, the cost of full tuition at Thaddeus Stevens will be cut in half for the first year attending as a high school senior. The second year attending Thaddeus Stevens, as a full-time college student, will cost the full tuition.

Full tuition is approximately $8,000. Once the two years of attendance in the program are completed, the senior will spend an estimate of $12,000 total and earn an associates degree.

Similar to many schools, Thaddeus Stevens offers financial aid and scholarships for students-including the Early Enrollment program.

The college credits earned at Thaddeus Stevens can be transferred to another school where the student can finish up a bachelor’s degree for another two years.

Anyone junior who is interested in applying to Thaddeus Stevens for the dual enrollment program should speak to their guidance counselor for additional information.

After speaking to a guidance counselor from the high school, look at applying to the Early Enrollment program at Thaddeus Stevens via their website: https://stevenscollege.edu/earlyenrollment.