running start?

[Loowit]

My DD is pushing to do running start next year and I am not sure it is a good idea.  She is going to be a junior in high school.  I advanced her a year when she was younger and didn't really think about how this would complicate things as she got older.  She is a good student and her grades are good enough to qualify.  We would have to get the local public school to qualify her as a junior since she is homeschooled.  I am not sure how hard this would be, but I am guessing not too hard.  She took a drama class her freshman year at the local public school and they accepted her as a freshman even though she would have been 8th grade in public school.

 

The things I am concerned about:  Maturity - I don't think she is mature enough to handle college level courses, even if she is academically.  Transportation - She is not going to be old enough to drive herself until next February, and I can't take time out every day to drive her to classes.  We do not have workable public transportation.  Fees - While class fees are covered, we have to pay any college fees and for books which I know I would have to buy books for home anyway, but I can be more economical than the college.  Emotionally - she suffers from anxiety and panic attacks.  They have improved with therapy and medication, but I worry that she is already too busy with dance and other activities, adding in another stressful thing like college classes may be too much for her to handle.

 

Benefits would be the ability to earn her AA degree at low cost - government pays tuition.  It would also give her a head start on college.  And, if all went well she would gain a lot of good experience in outside classes and make new friends.

 

She is not willing to wait a year to graduate.  it would be socially difficult.  It would be like being held back a year and it would be devastating to her emotionally.

 

So I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place.  Academically she would be fine, socially and emotionally it wouldn't be a good choice IMO.

 

I just really don't know what to do.  She has been looking forward to running start for years.  We could wait a year and then have her just do one year of running start, which would be better than nothing.

 

DH and I have not had a chance to sit down and talk about it at all.  Life has just been too crazy.  So when I asked his thoughts I am getting told to figure it out because he doesn't have time to discuss it right now.  This is mainly because we just found out two days ago that the only mandatory information session that we can make it to is this afternoon.  DH thinks we should go - we being me and DD, not him, and just get the information.  I am afraid that going will get DD's hopes up too high that she can do it, and I am leaning towards a no at this point.

[UCF612]

What does running start mean? Sorry, my kids are still young so I'm not sure!

[Melissa B]

If there is a mandatory information session, I would go so that you aren't completely ruled out before you have time to make a decision. However, if she has no way to get there it really wouldn't be doable, unless they offer online classes.

[Loowit]

What does running start mean? Sorry, my kids are still young so I'm not sure!

 

Running start is a program, not sure every state has it, that allows high school students (in my state juniors and seniors) to attend community college.  Students take college level classes and can take up to a full load each quarter.  The government pays for the classes themselves.  So it is a great deal really to get the first two years of college out of the way.  My niece will be graduating high school this year and will have earned her AA degree as well.  So she will start next year as a junior in college.

[Critterfixer]

I would go to the information session. I would take notes. Then, this weekend, I would schedule a planning session with your DD and your DH. 

Some things to hash out:

1) Transportation: If there is absolutely no way that she can get there (and also have trips to the library, campus events for her classes, etc) then it will have to wait, or some things will need to change. 

2) Extracurricular Activities: One simply may not be able to have cake and eat it too. College will take up the vast majority of her time now. Is she willing to drop everything she does to be a college student early? It might come down to that. 

3) Social Outlet: College was never a social outlet for me (I went early-age 15). I went to college to study. I wouldn't think of it as a place to make new friends. However, going to college early is going to impact her current relationships. There will be less time to hang out with friends. I was never one to fit in, but I remember requesting a transfer to the college Sunday school class because I simply had nothing in common with the high school class anymore.

4) Emotionally: I assume that the anxiety and panic issues will be there even if she goes to college at the usual time. How are her coping skills? What will she do if she is having a problem there at the school? This may be a good time to discuss strategies for coping with mental health issues on campus. What programs or assistance is available there at the college for helping with these issues? Course load could factor in here. Would she be expected to carry a full load? What happens if she needs to drop a class? How much scaffolding is going to be needed to navigate drop dates, to assess whether a class needs to be dropped, or whether additional work might be needed to bring up a grade? Academically fine can fall apart when emotions get in the way. It's a pain, but things like anxiety can really make a academically sound student falter.

 

Some of these questions could be brought up during the information session, but they should be talked about together as a family.

 

(Note-I don't have college age students. Just some things I think might be worth thinking and talking about.)

[Loowit]

I sat DD down and talked to her about the issues and that it isn't likely to work out.  I left it up to her to decide if she wants to go and at least get the information this afternoon and she decided not to.  We are going to try to sit down with DH sometime this weekend and talk things over.  Sadly, he is going to be out of town most of the weekend.  I found out there is one more information session next week that we could go to if we decide to, it is just out of town drive for us, but DH would be able to go to it which would be nice.

[JanetC]

We have found the costs for Running Start to be very reasonable for our HS senior at our CC: Things like $20.00 lab fee for writing lab in English 101, for example. The bookstore shopping interface actually helps you find used books and books on other websites that may be cheaper, and some profs do use open source texts. I hear lab science costs for the serious science classes get expensive though (my DD only did one, non-lab science). But, if you think Running Start is expensive, just wait til she graduates high school and have to pay for college tuition!

 

I have a younger sophomore (August birthday, not grade-skipped) who is doing the Running Start registration process. She is also a busy dancer with an anxious type personality (but not panic attacks or a need for meds).

 

My main motivation for RS is that she is starving for more challenge in ways I didn't appreciate before. Putting her in AP Chem this year has been an eye-opener in that respect. She just did the math testing and placed into calculus, despite having only done the first two AOPS books (intro algebra & intro geometry). (She also reads scientific papers that have a lot of math in them.)

 

The transportation thing is a pain, I admit, but she's the younger of two and older sister will be gone. Driving her will keep empty-nest me busy. Also, I often shortened the drive with older sis by just going as far as the nearest park and ride, and she bused to/from there when possible.  Buses run much less frequently outside of rush hours, so depending on class start/end times this didn't always work out.

 

If you think the details could be worked out by fall, I would make sure to get started with the application and testing process now. It takes time to jump through the hoops, and registration starts in May for us.

 

Remember if you do RS:

 

1. You do not have to do a full load of classes (unless you need that free AA for financial reasons).

2. You do not have to start in fall quarter if waiting makes sense (but you do lose that quarter of eligibility for free tuition, unfortunately).

3. Go talk to your high school or school district early! Ours goes strictly by birthday for who is a junior for homeschoolers for RS purposes, but she may be in the computer as a junior already due to the class she took in their system.

 

When is your DD planning to apply to college? Is she planning on applying to college in two years? Having an outside class or two junior year looks really good on college apps.