Early College Options in High School
The cost of college is increasingly becoming too much of a burden for students to bear. In order to help students succeed many High Schools in Massachusetts have partnered with state and community colleges to offer dual enrollment programs. The Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP) allows high school students to take college level courses at low to NO cost – and the best part is students receive credit in high school AND college level course credits. These programs have existed and expanded since 2017.
Students in Sutton should be aware of this program and the opportunities it affords with the many colleges (private or community) in the area or, with the Commonwealth Collegiate Academy, any of the UMass System universities. In FY25 the commonwealth provided funding of about $5 million dollars for these partnership programs through a program called CDEP. This funding helps cover the costs to the district for textbooks and transportation. In my research I’ve noticed a few schools in the area offer this specifically as a dual enrollment option.
I believe that early college partnerships like this are critical to helping our Sutton High School students succeed and might be able to fill some of the gaps in programing that we might not be able to offer.
https://www.doe.mass.edu/ccte/pathways/early-college/default.html or