New York City’s College Now Program offers high school students preliminary courses before joining college institutions. The program is an exciting tool to engage in high schools and should be extended as it offers important guidance to students.

Some of the courses offered include business, communication, social sciences, humanities and mathematics. The program allows students to earn college credit while in high school.

College Now recruiters visit students during their junior year of high school and discuss the program’s procedures. Students may opt to participate in starter orientation courses that will help them get an overview of college learning environments.

Dual enrollment program students score better grades in high school and their first year in college, according to The New York Daily News.

Therefore, dual enrollment programs have been embraced by many high school students and adopted by several colleges.

College course exposure helps students easily adapt as they enroll in college institutions. Introducing college courses informs students that college is not all about learning but also how they should relate with their professors.

In high school, students depend on teachers to help them solve academic or related issues, while this is not the case in college. Hence, students are introduced to being independent and accessible through College Now.

However, some of these programs don’t utilize the opportunities well since they do not focus on student equality in all areas of life.

White and wealthier students tend to enroll in the program more than their colleagues. Only 8- 13% of high school students in New York City enrolled for the program in the 2019-2020 academic year, according to College Now.

Offering a program with subsidized fees will encourage low and middle-class students’ participation. It would have a significant impact if colleges developed policies to encourage more qualified students to enroll in the program. A student’s demographics or economic circumstances should not affect their acceptability.

State governments have realized the benefits of the College Now program. Consequently, they have issued a directive to public and private universities to partner with high schools. The partnership has impacted the schools positively in that the students’ expectations for joining the college with confidence are met.

Through the program, they learn more than just skills.

They require prospects for topic coverage that give an avenue for opportunities. The multiple channels offered provide students with choices to explore which path of college foundational skills to take.