As The Ticker reported last week, enrollment numbers are up across the board this fall at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC). That increase includes a 13 percent jump in the number of high school students who are dual-enrolled or in Early College at the college. All told, NMC reports that 544 local high schoolers fit into those two categories, representing “nearly 16 percent of the 3,460 students on campus.”

Dual enrollment and Early College are two ways that high school students in the northern Michigan region can take classes and earn college credits at NMC. Dual enrollment is available to students as early as their sophomore year and allows them to “take up to 10 classes and choose from more than 100 courses.” Early College is a pathway that also allows students to take college classes during high school, but is pitched as a “head start” on college that sets students up to earn an associate’s degree “just one year after high school.” In both cases, the cost of classes is covered by the student’s school district.

According to an NMC blog post about the all-time high enrollment numbers for high school students, “research shows that students who dual-enroll in a college class or Early College students, who earn an associate degree in just one year, are more likely to get to the finish line” of college graduation.