Layla Kpotufe, a senior at l Believe Circle City High School in Indianapolis, shows off a science classroom at Ivy Tech Community College where she has taken classes pursuing her interest in medicine. Kpotufe already has an associates degree from Ivy Tech, a school filled with high school students starting college early. (Patrick O’Donnell)
Hector Torres wishes he had not waited so long to start college classes
That’s not the weighty middle-aged regret of lost dreams. It’s the lament of an Indianapolis high school senior who waited until late into his sophomore year – Gasp! – to take advantage of the college classes Indiana offers high schoolers for free or little cost.
Indiana is one of the few states where starting college as a high school sophomore makes you a late bloomer. The state ranks just behind Idaho in leading an early college credit movement, as states increasingly encourage high school students to take college classes, most often at community colleges.
In Idaho and Indiana, high school students make up more than half the students in community college classes, according to a report issued this summer by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University . Iowa and Montana follow, with high schoolers representing more than 40% of community college enrollment, and eight other states comprising more than 30% of enrollment.