What Happens When You Combine High School And College? - Early college model impacts on postsecondary performance

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Angel

Early colleges combine high school and college experiences so students can graduate with a postsecondary credential. A 14-year longitudinal experimental study in North Carolina evaluates this model using lottery-based selection and compares early college students to a control group. Results show higher rates of postsecondary credential attainment, increased associate degree attainment, faster time to degrees, and no meaningful negative effect on college performance, measured by comparable postsecondary GPA across groups.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Summary

The problem

Early colleges as part of the solution

The study

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Footnotes

What Happens When You Combine High School And College? The impact of early colleges on postsecondary performance and completion1 [serve.uncg.edu](serve.uncg.edu) Summary 2 The problem 3 Early colleges as part of the solution 3 The study 3 Results 4 Conclusions 6 Footnotes 7 SUMMARY Early colleges are an innovative model of schooling that combines high school and college. A 14-year, rigorous experimental study has been examining whether this model works. The study compares early college students who were accepted through a lottery to students who applied to early colleges but were not accepted through the lottery (the control group). The latest findings from this study include: • More early college students earned postsecondary credentials. By six years after 12th grade, 44.3% of early college students had earned some sort of postsecondary credential compared to 33.0% of the control group. • Early college students were three times as likely to get associate degrees as control students. 32.8% of early college students earned an associate degree, compared to 11.0% of control students. • Despite the higher rate of associate degree attainment, early college students were not being steered away from bachelor’s degrees. There was no significant impact on bachelor’s degree attainment for the full sample. Among economically disadvantaged students, early college students were 4.5 percentage points more likely to earn bachelor’s degrees than their control group counterparts. • Early college students earned their degrees more rapidly. The early college model shortened students’time to degree by two years for associate degrees and by six months for bachelor’s degrees. • Despite the shortened time in school, early college students did equally well in college. Both groups had essentially the same postsecondary GPA. This brief gives an overview of the early college model as implemented in North Carolina, the study’s design, and the model’s impacts on student outcomes. [serve.uncg.edu](serve.uncg.edu) WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMBINE HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE? | 3 The problem Earning a living wage in the 21st century generally requires some sort of postsecondary training or credential.2 Yet access to and success in college remains out of reach for too many students, particularly those who are low-income, those whose parents did not go to college, or members of historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups.3 Students face many barriers to enrolling in college, which include academic, financial, and logistical obstacles. For example, many students have not taken the courses they need to take in highschool to qualify for college admission; they may not knowhow to get financial aid; or they may be unclear about the college application process.4 Early colleges seek to address this problem with a conceptually simple solution: combine the high school and college experience so that students can graduate from high school with a postsecondary credential. Early colleges as part of the solution Serving students in grades 9–12 or 9–13, early colleges are small schools, frequently located on college campuses, that seamlessly integrate the high school and college experiences. At the end of high school, students are expected to graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree or two years of transferable college credit. The target populations for these schools are students who traditionally face challenges making the transition to college, including students who are low-income, the first in their family togo to college, or members of a minority group underrepresented in college. Our study looked at this model in North Carolina (NC), which has had a statewide program since 2005. Under the Cooperative Innovative High School legislation and with the financial support of the North Carolina General Assembly, NC has created a total of 133 early colleges and similar schools.5 As implemented in North Caroli

FAQs

What is the early college model described in the document?

It combines high school and college experiences so students can earn a postsecondary credential by graduating high school, including an associate degree and/or transferable college credit.

How does the study identify the impact of early colleges?

Participating early colleges use lotteries to select students from the applicant pool, enabling comparison between accepted students and a control group of applicants not selected.

What outcomes improve for early college students?

Early college students earn postsecondary credentials at higher rates, are more likely to obtain associate degrees, and complete degrees faster, while maintaining similar postsecondary GPA to the control group.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Angel