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February 8, 2011 in City
Running Start hits record enrollment
Spokane Falls Community College Running Start student Amanda Cash works with Curtis Beach on a project for their Non-Western Art class on Monday. Cash is earning her Associate of Arts degree and her high school diploma simultaneously.
(Full-size photo)
As the price of higher education continues to rise, more Washington high school juniors and seniors are taking advantage of a state program to earn college credits cheaply while finishing high school.
Running Start has seen steady growth since the late 1990s, according to a recent report on the Spokane Community Indicators Initiative, a website operated by Eastern Washington University that reports a wide range of data about the community.
Spokane County teens are especially keen on the program. Last year, 12.2 percent of high school juniors and seniors in the county participated in Running Start, more than twice the 1998 rate. The state’s average in 2010 was 10.7 percent, the report states.
Participation is typically higher in urban areas because colleges where the program is available are more accessible, one official at EWU said.
Eastern Washington University and Community Colleges of Spokane have seen record Running Start enrollment this academic year and expect it will continue in 2011-’12. About 975 full-time high school students are enrolled in CCS, which encompasses Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane Community College and the Institute for Extended Learning, and about 370 go to EWU.
“It’s the best value there is,” said Jim Minkler, vice president of learning at Spokane Falls Community College.
Students pay lab and course fees – an average of $80 per term – and buy their textbooks. Tuition is waived. Participating colleges receive about $4,852 annually per student from the state.
Students taking college classes earn both high school and college credits. There’s no limit to the number of classes a student can take; some earn a two-year degree by the time they graduate high school.
Tuition increases at Washington’s public universities and colleges ranged from 7 percent to 28 percent for resident undergraduate students during the past two years, said Gary Larson, a spokesman for the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board. Two semesters at Washington State University currently would cost about $9,600 before books, transportation, room and board.
“My family wouldn’t have been able to pay for college, so I would have been shopping a lot more for scholarships,” said Amanda Cash, 17, a senior at Lewis and Clark High School. She attends Running Start classes at Spokane Falls Community College.
While a struggling economy and families taking advantage of the opportunity to earn college credits on the cheap are the primary reasons Running Start enrollment has increased, an EWU instructor who helped compile the recent data on the program says there are many factors that lead to a student’s decision to participate.
“Frequently students and parents comment that without Running Start they may not be going to college at all,” said Mark Baldwin, associate vice provost for programs, policies and operations. “But there are different reasons for different kids (who enroll in the program). They come out to the college to take classes where they are more academically challenged. Some students say it’s more of a social kind of a thing. They don’t feel connected at high school.”
Cash, who will earn her high school diploma and an Associate of Arts degree at the same time, said she fit that description. “High school was really not the atmosphere for me, and I was told I was academically strong enough to do college classes. So I decided to try it, and I was able to have some success,” she said.
Mead High School senior Jake Bogensberger enrolled in Running Start last fall, but he wishes he’d started a year earlier.
“My friends at high school told me to stick with my classes my junior year to get more of the high school experience, but high school just doesn’t prepare you for life and college as completely as Running Start,” he said. “It prepares you for the college experience socially and academically.”
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oneanddone on February 08 at 4:13 a.m.
Although I agree this is a great program for kids who understand the value of college credits, and likely will continue to an undergraduate degree, I have to wonder about the prudence of tax dollars spent on those whose families can afford to pay their own way. These programs weren’t available for my kids, who all completed their BS, but I would have been glad to pay for their participation. We have to stop providing gov’t programs for those who can easily afford to do without.
reservedparking on February 08 at 6:04 a.m.
How about rewarding achievement and hard work, regardless of means, instead of applying a ‘means test’?
a_van_winkle on February 08 at 7:40 a.m.
@oneanddone
Running Start saves taxpayers money. See 2008-2009 Annual Report from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges:
http://www.sbctc.edu/docs/data/research_reports/runstart/2008-2009_annual_running-start-report.pdf
Most of these students do go on to finish a four year degree, but most of them do not have the means to do so. By using the money that we already use to pay for these students’ high school education and transferring it to the community colleges, these students take out less financial aid and receive fewer state grants when they finish college.
Ninch on February 08 at 7:47 a.m.
It is not all about the money. Credits earned in Running Start are also applied to high school credit… and in most cases the Running Start classes are more challenging. The latter is most important because in too many schools these kids do not have access to high school AP classes nor do schools have enough teachers qualified to teach core classes (e.g. foreign languages). (Note: Washington State public universities require 2 semesters foreign language in high school for admission.)
Note also that Running Start classes give students transferrable credits and allow most to actually graduate with 4-year degrees in 4-years…without having to attend summer semesters or add semesters to the end of 4 years!!! In other words, these transfer credits allow students more flexibility in their college schedules, which allows for less overload. Additionally, students have the freedom to take those classes (often required classes) that are not available every semester.
eagleproducer on February 08 at 11:11 a.m.
ninch: The statement you made about foreign language requirements for admission to college is incorrect. You need two years in high school or a year in college to GRADUATE from a public university in Washington state.
greenlibertarian on February 08 at 11:35 p.m.
GU and GPrep mirror this program my allowing qualified GPrep students to take GU classes at no additional cost. My daughter got a head start at GU when she was at GPrep by enrolling in GU classes. It’s a very very worthwhile program (Running Start and GPrep’s) for high school students with the ability to achieve college level work.