Doris Helmich, Central Arizona College’s associate vice president of student development, said that according to the U.S. Department of Labor, 80 percent of all future jobs will require some college education. But for every 100 ninth-graders across the United States, only 67 will graduate from high school on time, only 39 will go to college and only 18 will graduate from college with an associate degree in three years or a bachelor’s degree in six years. The statistics for Arizona are worse.
It is recommended that every high school student who plans to go to college take four years of math, four years of English, three years of social science, two years of foreign language, and two years of science. Nine years after graduation, students who took just one math class above Algebra I earned an average of 5 percent more than those who didn’t. She said people with an associate degree earn an average of 35 percent more than people with only a high school diploma.
CAC has a program, Early College, that will allow high school juniors and seniors to earn an associate degree while they are still in high school or make considerable progress toward one – with no expense except transportation and books. They will take classes with adults on the CAC campus and be entitled to use the tutoring center, the library, and the athletic fields just like other students. And they can take seven credit hours free every summer. Helmich said the college will set up information sessions for students and their parents.
CGUHSD board President Jack Henness said a lot of people don’t realize that students who graduate in the top 30 percent of their class can go to CAC tuition free for four semesters if they keep a 3.0 grade-point average. [Note: To read the full article, click here.]