How to Advise Students on Dual Enrollment

Sarah Spradling, College & Career Transition Coordinator at Vandegrift High School, joins us to discuss how you can advise high school students on Dual Enrollment. We discuss how to navigate conversations with students, how to “sell” Dual Enrollment to families, and how to align Dual Enrollment to a student’s goals.

 

Transcript:

Matt Sterenberg (00:00.894)

Alright, I’m here with Sarah Spraedling, College and Career Transition Coordinator from Vandegrift High School near Austin, Texas. Sarah, tell us a little bit about yourself and about Vandegrift High School.

Sarah Spradling (00:11.502)

Yes. Sure, yeah. I am in the college and career transition coordinator here at Vandergrift. I’ve been here since we opened. We’re like 14, we’ve been in existence for about 14 years, but we’re a pretty large public high school in central Texas, just on the kind of the suburbs of Austin. Roughly 2,800 students, so pretty large graduating classes, you know, of around six to 700 students.

At Vandegrift, but pretty young, really great high school in terms of the fact that we offer a lot of different programming, both academically and extracurricularly for our students. So we have advanced placement classes. We’re an IB high school international baccalaureate, as well as hosting dual credit classes on our campus. And then extracurricularly, our kids are really stellar. They do amazing things here at Vandegrift.

And we’ve won recognition across the state for just how awesome our kids are performing in band, athletics, DECA, all kinds of things. So it’s a great place to be.

Matt Sterenberg (01:15.49)

So I think that’s a good segue into my first question, which is how do you advise students on all those different pathways? When is dual credit, dual enrollment, a good pathway for them? When is AP? When to pursue IB? How do you make those judgments? And how does a family make those judgments? And how do you advise those students on what the best pathway is for them?

Sarah Spradling (01:40.962)

Yeah, that is the question we get asked all the time from parents is like, what do I choose? You have this buffet of options and it is like walking into a buffet in Vegas, right? Like you have so many things and you just don’t want to miss out on something great, but you can’t really pile your plate too high, right? And that is where we start digging into really more individualized questions with students and their families. What are your future goals?

What are your goals now? What are you trying to balance in your life? So there’s a lot of different factors to consider. It’s not just their college goals, but it’s also the, you know, what are you wanting to experience now and how are we trying to strike that balance in terms of workload, time commitment, and your academic effort, right, that you’re trying to put forth?

So just having those individual conversations is really, really critical to guide students. IB is very, very different from advanced placement and dual credit. But what we also point out to students and parents is that all three of those things, all three of those pathways can actually be mixed together on that buffet plate. You can be an IB student, but also supplementing with some dual credit coursework through our local community college.

You can be a primarily AP student, but supplement with dual credit. Or you can be pursuing what we call our dual credit plus program, where they commit to a certain pathway of courses, but also take advanced placement science and math classes. So they’re also playing to their own personal academic strengths of, OK, maybe a student’s really strong in STEM and math and science classes. So they might choose to take those.

advanced placement, but take their English and social studies classes through dual credit. So it’s really looking at all of the different options that are available to them, pinpointing their strengths, pinpointing their future goals, and what they can actually manage. In terms of the looking ahead to their college and career, that is also a question we ask students, because some students are really aiming toward those highly selective.

Sarah Spradling (03:57.494)

private institutions, and so we probably are going to say this would be a more sure pathway for you if you go IB or AP primarily. That doesn’t mean they can’t take a dual credit class. You know, we get kids into Stanford that have taken a dual credit, like, fine art class, but their math and their science and their English, you know, those core classes are AP or IB coursework. Whereas if they say, hey, I’m going to stay in Texas, I want to stay local, I want to make sure my college is affordable, great.

I really think dual credit is the way for you to go to make sure that all of those are gonna transfer nicely for you and help you save money in college later on down the road. So yeah, a lot of individual conversations.

Matt Sterenberg (04:32.926)

I like the idea of focusing on goals instead of necessarily pathways because everyone talks about pathways. Everyone I’ve talked to about dual credit dual enrollment is like pathways, pathways. And obviously it’s really critical. But you and I both know that when you’re 16, 17, 18 years old, you really how realistic is it to say what do you what do you want to do?

Sarah Spradling (04:43.326)

Uh-huh.

Matt Sterenberg (04:58.526)

So instead of focusing so specifically on what do you want to do with a career, which we know is going to change and evolve, or even your major, where do you want to, what’s your immediate next step? Is it career or is it this type of college? I think is probably more effective than trying to determine where they’re going to be at, you know, 15 years from now, career wise, and to think about it more from the sense of hard sciences versus humanities and more general.

Sarah Spradling (05:20.563)

right.

Matt Sterenberg (05:26.986)

is probably, I think, a more effective way of thinking about it. Because students don’t even know what… I didn’t… I certainly didn’t know what careers even meant, right? Like, you know, what they really, really were.

Sarah Spradling (05:34.294)

Yeah.

Right.

Sarah Spradling (05:40.722)

Yeah, absolutely. Students have a broad understanding of what careers and even majors are out there. A lot of times I’ll sit students down with a brochure from a college and say, actually look through what majors are offered. Don’t just say you want to major in pre-med because that’s actually not a major when you’re going in as an undergrad. So there’s a lot of education involved with that, but because students are very likely to change, I mean, you know, we look at statistics of how many times people change their majors and their career pathways.

And when we’re advising students, we do try to keep it very general. In fact, the dual credit program that we have mapped out for our students focuses on the core curriculum that we know is going to be unchanging, regardless if they’re at, you know, University of Texas down the road, or if they’re in Colorado or California going to college. You know, they’re going to have to take a writing composition class. They’re going to have to take U.S. history. They’re going to have to take U.S. government.

some sort of social and behavioral sciences. So we try to package up those classes that are not specific to a particular major, a particular pathway, so that way it has more chance of actually traveling with them to whatever their pathway ends up being.

Matt Sterenberg (06:54.002)

So tell me a little bit more about your partnership with Austin Community College. How does that actually work and give me all the ins and outs of that?

Sarah Spradling (07:03.274)

Oh gosh, there’s a lot to say here. So Austin Community College is our local servicing community college for all of central Texas. They have lots of campuses around the Austin area. Fortunately, we have an MOU with them, our school district does, and so we have this dual credit partnership. Actually in our school district, we have six traditional high schools and then one early college high school that just launched this past year.

So we do have one that is defined early college high school that the students are targeting earning an associate’s degree, but it’s very young within our school district. So most of our schools, our six high schools have a robust dual credit program where we, as a high school have developed a pathway of classes that we would like to offer on our campus. So that’s a really great selling factor is that.

we can map out what we would like to offer, that it’s aligned to our high school graduation requirements. So, you know, if I’m offering English composition one and two, not only are they going to get that six credit hours of college credit, but they’ll also get English three credit. Right. So we have those mapped out of all the different courses that we will award high school credit for, but then a few select of those classes are actually offered on the high school campus. Generally speaking, that’s English.

history, government, economics, their junior and senior year core curriculum. Again, we don’t go into sciences in the math, although we do have science and math classes approved for dual credit. So what if a student wants to deviate from the ones that we offer on our campus, then they can take them at an ACC campus, which again, we have lots close by to us because they have so many different satellite campuses, or they can take a class online within.

What has transpired since COVID is there is just a robust offering of online courses available to students. And I’m really seeing that open up opportunities for students to pursue areas of interest. You know, we have students taking online language classes, math classes that are more advanced than what we offer here at the high school, science classes, lots of different things. So within that partnership, those classes that we offer on our campus, we just have to provide a

Sarah Spradling (09:19.65)

And then they send professors to us. And so that happens within a student school day, which just makes it so much more accessible to students, so less of a logistical challenge for them. So just incredibly convenient for them to accrue. And within our plan, it’s 24 college credit hours that they could accrue during their junior and senior year, which again is part of the core curriculum at the college level that they could package up and take with them.

So I guide as the high school side of things, I guide students through the enrollment process. That’s kind of my primary role is to be their guide and their advocate as they’re learning to navigate ACC systems and help them understand how it is integrated into our systems. That is a huge challenge.

Especially when I have about 700 students each year that pursue dual credit coursework and I meet individually with each one of those students to academically advise them, make sure that they’re picking the right classes, troubleshoot their applications, make sure that they’re navigating within these new systems, you know, the ACC, you know, website and whatnot. And so that’s, I’m kind of their advocate and their guide.

But then there’s some things that I can’t resolve for them. So we work with an ACC liaison that’s assigned to my campus that really can help from the ACC side of things. So it’s been a really great partnership with Austin Community College and how that works.

Matt Sterenberg (10:47.89)

I’ve heard that being a frustration for many people before, but also one of the advantages of dual credit and dual enrollment in the sense that students are having to navigate a college experience, which is a little different than, say, AP, where they’re getting to know some of the lingo of a college or university, and the ins and outs of how to navigate their systems, what they need to do. They’re kind of like a.

Sarah Spradling (11:08.36)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Sterenberg (11:17.302)

you know, just kind of a gateway student and getting used to the experience of working with a college. So I’ve heard that being frustrating, but also one of the benefits.

Sarah Spradling (11:24.128)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Spradling (11:28.438)

I think it’s a huge benefit because these students then, when they leave and they go off to a four-year college, they are now equipped with this working knowledge of what are office hours? They know what a syllabus is, but to actually understand how the grading breakdown differentiates or is different from one professor to the next and how they have to be ready to shift and adjust from one semester to the next and to those different professors’ expectations, I think that’s huge.

You know, for example, Austin Community College uses Blackboard as their platform that professors communicate to students with their syllabus, their grades, all those different pieces. And I’ve had alumni come back and say, oh my gosh, this college I go to now uses Blackboard and now I know how to use that. There’s so much more confident in that transition to college, even if they’re unsure when they first start. So I see that as one of my…

jobs or one of my roles in that guiding student is to help to educate them on these systems. And I also remind those professors that teach on our campus, hey, these are juniors in high school that have never taken a college class before. You’re going to need to slow it down and really walk them through. This is how you log into this. This is how you upload a document. This is how you take an online test.

And I really emphasize to both students as well as to the parents. And I think that’s so critically important because sometimes students will not say anything to me, but they’ll say something to their parents. But I emphasize to them, I am always open for questions. If there’s something you’re unsure about, if reach out to me, no question is dumb because they’re brand new to it. So how can they be expected to know the ins and the outs of the lingo? And I think that’s really helped in the success of our program.

because I do have that open door policy and it’s not just for students, I also invite parents to ask those questions because they are such key supporters in this process.

Matt Sterenberg (13:33.91)

So when you meet with students and families, what are your selling points for dual credit, dual enrollment? Give me the elevator pitch from Sarah Spraedling. So, I’m going to start with Sarah.

Sarah Spradling (13:36.435)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Spradling (13:46.698)

I tell the parents, I emphasize it’s a big fat coupon I’m giving them, you know, like I’m handing you this. And if you want to turn down like a $6,000 tuition coupon, well, then by all means, like just walk away. But I am a definite advocate for the financial savings that comes along with being a part of the program. Of course, then I go into kind of some of the other like softer.

benefits for students. One, again, going back to that confidence. And we do a side-by-side comparison of like, this is AP coursework and this is dual credit coursework. So they can really understand the differences. But we emphasize to parents and students that regardless of which one you choose or if you’re doing a combination of those, no matter what, those students are proven to have a more successful transition to college because of the academic rigor.

and because of how they’re forced to really advocate for themselves and develop higher level study skills. So I bring that up, the understanding of the enrollment process, just the fact that they’ve applied to college. I mean, filling out the ACC application doesn’t take, you know, there’s no essay involved. I remind students you’re not applying to Harvard here, but it is still a process that helps them to gain some confidence that they can navigate that application component.

that registering for classes, they’re gonna know how to do that. The confidence, but also like the strategy involved in registering for classes and the preparation that is involved. You know, you need to have a backup plan B and plan C. And I remember, I tell parents, I remember being on the floor of my dorm room, my freshman, first semester freshman year, and I had to register via a phone with punching in codes.

to the like for the classes that I wanted. I was in tears because I didn’t have a plan B. I just thought it was all gonna work out for me. And I had to like sit there for hours and recalculate a new plan. And this wasn’t online. This was like flipping through a book. And of course, when I bring that up, there’s always parents who are older than me and they’re like, well, I had to use a index card and walk around. So it’s just funny to explain like, you know, to parents too, that what you experienced in college is vastly different. So now your kids are gonna know and have that confidence going into college.

Sarah Spradling (16:02.198)

They’re going to learn how to self advocate for themselves. They’re going to know all of those different tech systems, understand how to purchase textbooks, how to figure out which textbooks they need. That’s a huge challenge. How to calculate GPA. And then just the college level study skills. College classes are structured so different than high school classes. And a lot of times high school classes, students are given a lot more flexibility, a lot more leeway than they are in college classes. So,

for them to experience that and know that them advocating to their professor when they’re sick or when something happens in their life, that is key and critical because mom can’t be emailing them and telling the professor, well, Johnny’s had a bad day or Johnny’s grandmother passed away and we’re going to be gone for a funeral. That’s up to Johnny. I think that’s a huge life lesson. I really do see students flourish and grow up through this. Sometimes I have to remind parents to back off a little bit. Hey, I’m going to

let Johnny experience this. They’re gonna grow through this if you let them do that. And it definitely has chased off a few parents and I think families, I should say, and I think that’s okay. That probably means they’re not ready for it. But it also has really some parents kind of shaking and nodding their heads going, okay, yeah, my kid’s growing up and they need to start being a young adult, you know? Which I love.

Matt Sterenberg (17:18.338)

Are you saying that some parents are overbearing? No, I’m kidding. Never, never. Yeah, no. I remember.

Sarah Spradling (17:22.29)

Never ever know. I’ve written plenty of emails where I’ve said to parents like, okay, now that you’ve done the application, because they’re saying, I’m filling out the application for Johnny. And I’m like, please make sure Johnny is, I’m really, you know, in my age, my experience, I feel like I can be very straightforward with parents and say, you should not be doing the application for Johnny. Johnny should be doing this application. Johnny is not learning anything by you doing the application.

So.

Matt Sterenberg (17:51.762)

Yeah, I will tell you one story. Like somehow this parent got a hold of my number through like parchment somehow. Like, like I need to order a transcript. I’m like, okay, you know, how old is your son or daughter? She’s like, well, he’s, he’s at Oklahoma state, uh, you know, just completed his freshman year or whatever. I’m like, well, you can’t order his transcript anymore. Like that’s. He’s.

over the age of 18, it’s up to him now. And she’s like, you know, upset about that. And I was like, he can create an account. He needs, all he needs is an email. And she goes, he doesn’t have an email. And I’m like, well, I know you’re lying to me because he’s at Oklahoma State. I’m pretty sure. Yeah, so it’s like some parents just don’t wanna hear it. So this is a difficult question, but how do you know, Sarah, that

Sarah Spradling (18:37.618)

He’s in college.

Matt Sterenberg (18:51.01)

dual credit and dual enrollment is actually making an impact, that it is beneficial. How do you, what’s the feedback loop that you know that this is a benefit?

Sarah Spradling (19:00.914)

Oh, sure. Well, one, I mean, obviously we keep statistics on, you know, what our students are walking away with by the point of graduation. And, you know, we actually calculate like the number of total credit hours, both high school and college, and what that financial savings is. Our principal actually includes it like in the graduation speech. He gives it the, you know, the commencement every year. So I have to recalculate that all the time. So I know that is of huge benefit.

But I’m also a huge proponent of my alumni coming back and speaking to students, usually when they’re home in January or December on their break, and talking to current high school students about their college experience. I never bring it up. They always bring it up and they’re like, do dual credit. All of my credit is transferred. This is where I am a huge proponent because they’ll say, my AP exam scores didn’t get me what I thought they were going to get me.

I had to petition. It was a whole lot of hoops I had to jump through. But with my ACC credits, I just sent my transcript and poof, my credits were there. So they said that they have reported back to me. And this is all qualitative. I haven’t done a formal assessment or really evaluated all of my students. But by and large, the feedback that I’ve heard is that transferring their dual credit coursework, by sending that college transcript to their now undergraduate college they’re attending,

That’s been very smooth and seamless in terms of getting that credit transferred. But with IB, they haven’t always gotten credit out of it that they were hoping to get with AP exam scores. That varies based on college pretty widely. And also very dependent on which degree the student’s pursuing, whether or not those specific scores are going to translate into valid credit toward their degree. So-

They have reported back to me and have been trying to sell it to other students without me needing to do that. And that’s something I learned really early on as I was trying to start this program when we were a brand new high school. I really tried to sell dual credit. And I think that kind of bit me a little bit, like came back to haunt me because I think I oversold it to students who weren’t ready, parents who didn’t really understand the value.

Sarah Spradling (21:20.39)

And then when they started to kind of hear and the rumblings in their community of like the students that were being successful, the students that were getting all this credit and packaging it up and taking it with them. And now in their college, you know, undergraduate, they were able to double major, graduate a year early, have time for an internship. That within our community, which is very communicative and very active on the social media, that started to sell it. I didn’t really have to do anything.

So I think it’s definitely there. No, I wish I had some quantitative way to measure though. That’s tough.

Matt Sterenberg (21:56.178)

Yeah, I mean, you could look at overall data, right? But in the people I talked to, but it’s not necessarily specific to Vandergrift. Like that’s the difficult thing of what are six, seven year graduation rates and what degrees and how quickly did they graduate? That’s really difficult stuff to get. But like in my instance, I…

Sarah Spradling (22:04.882)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Spradling (22:10.23)

Mm-hmm.

Sarah Spradling (22:16.874)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Sterenberg (22:22.39)

had an opportunity to like continue to take Spanish in high school. This isn’t even dual credit, but I was like, I’m only take two years. I don’t like Spanish. Well, the college I went to was like, you need four years of language. So then I took one year in college. Didn’t want to continue taking it. So I took it at community college and I just didn’t have enough credits transferring and I had to stay an extra semester basically. And I changed my major in a number of things, but what did that cost me? Probably.

at the time, you know, like 12 grand, you know, like at least. So it’s really, it’s hard to get people to think about their future selves in any. Avenue, but for this specifically, it’s, it’s gotta be really difficult. So you, you answered this a little bit, but let’s say I’m a first time college and career transition coordinator. I’m just starting in my role.

Sarah Spradling (22:55.292)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Sterenberg (23:19.006)

and you’re giving me advice on how to get a program up and running, what advice would you give to those people that are in the shoes that you were in 15 years ago?

Sarah Spradling (23:29.938)

Oh, I mean, we actually have to onboard new people all the time. There’s always some turnaround. One of the biggest pieces of advice, and I sort of mentioned this, is getting the parents onboard. I mean, it’s a family decision. And parents are always, of course, looking out for their students. And when it comes to their future planning, they are the ones who are forward thinking. Their student is just like, ah, that’s a lot of work right now. And in fact, I have seniors often who

They finish the credits that they need for graduation, and then they have an opportunity their last semester of senior year. Okay, do you want to off-campus periods, or do you want to get some more college credit under your belt? I’m sure you can guess what they primarily answer, but I try to remind them, hey, would you rather have free time and fun now, or free time and fun and less expense when you’re in college? And that’s a…

Matt Sterenberg (24:18.81)

I took the extra study hall and it was a mistake. It was a huge mistake.

Sarah Spradling (24:22.654)

I mean, that’s what 90% of them do. But then I had like just this past year, a student that took four classes through ACC that he did not need for high school, just was looking ahead to his degree at University of Oklahoma and was like, I wanna be done with math by the time I get there. And so he knocked it out. And that’s where I think that communication and culture was there within his family conversations.

that hey, you should really maximize this because you have some great goals. And the kid was very focused, wants to become a pilot, right? So he knew what those goals were and he could see the end and knew that the time is now to go ahead and get a head start so I can have time for these other goals that I do value more when I get to college. Implanting that more into the parents is critical because.

as teenagers just develop mentally, they are not there. They are not looking ahead. They are involved in like, who’s gonna ask me to prom? What am I gonna wear? And as opposed to, what is this gonna cost me? Later on down the road. So that’s number one is educating all parties, students and parents. And then getting them to, bringing in alumni or students who are currently involved.

I would advise them because they are your biggest, I can talk to them all day, but I’m not a dual credit student. Having the actual students who are boots on the ground in the classes can speak to students about the difficulty level, because that’s a concern of course. The difficulty level, workload, and the payoff that they have experienced. And a lot of times it is stuff like.

hey, you don’t have class on Friday, so you get a free period. It is that stuff that they care about, but that student to student, and I don’t think to remind them of those selling factors. So those would be the two big pieces that I would advise. Involve everyone and then get your current students to help educate the students because that peer-to-peer advising is so, so beneficial.

Matt Sterenberg (26:31.082)

Is there anything we didn’t talk about that we should have talked about Sarah?

Sarah Spradling (26:36.31)

Hmm, I think a couple of things is like it depends on the type of dual credit program that a high school is hosting I know it looks very different in different high school programs But with us having that the campus it the classes on our campus those relationships with the professors are really important and Because one if they’re great professors you want them to keep coming back So I work I work hard to maintain those relationships and in fact

Three of the professors that teach the bulk of our sections have been with us since the first day we started offering dual credit classes on our campus. And I think that says a lot about those relationships that we’ve fostered. And with that, that line of communication that we’ve established, they communicate back to me as it is allowed through our MOU, students sign a waiver agreeing that I can have that, the right to their educational information. Those professors communicate back to me when there is a concern.

so that I can help with these students who are new college students say, hey, what’s going on? I’m here not to school you, but like to figure out how I can support you be successful in this history class, this government class, this English composition class. So that relationship is definitely worth fostering with your professors. So that’s one piece of advice that I would give. I think also really taking the time to map out

what course offerings are of most benefit to your students so that you aren’t pigeonholing them. Like we talked about, like we keep the core curriculum in things that aren’t specific to a particular major, but what is right for my students and their high school graduation requirements may not be right for another high school’s population of students and their high school graduation requirements because that can vary.

you know, state to state or district to district. So I think mapping that out is really key. And we also operate a little bit differently than some even neighboring districts to us where we allow students a little bit more flexibility than, you know, say Round Rock ISD or Austin ISD that are around us. I know it’s easy to just say, here’s your package deal, take it or leave it, but we have had immense success.

Sarah Spradling (29:01.738)

with allowing students to, here’s your package deal, but if you want to a la carte that and just take this class or this class, oh, you don’t want to do it during the school year, you’d rather do it during the summer. Okay. We allow students to customize their plans, which makes my job a lot harder as well as my counselors as our, within our team, because we’re having to track much more closely what credits are being earned and when and what they still need to.

you know, get that next school year. But the balance that has allowed students has been amazing. You know, for example, I have a student who’s in, you know, marching band, right? Which is a very demanding program in the fall semester here at the Endergrift. A lot of those students will take US history in the summer instead of during the school year.

which affords them the opportunity as even a junior in high school to have an off-campus period. One less class on their plate that they have to deal with. So it’s that it’s taking care of the whole student, not just the counselor’s ease of scheduling. Does that make sense? So I feel like that has been invaluable to our students and parents, and probably why we have like 300 students taking classes this summer, because they see the value of how that can

lighten their load during the school year, alleviate their stress, find balance for them.

Matt Sterenberg (30:31.778)

That makes a lot of sense because it’s easy to look at them and say, don’t you want college credit and not to acknowledge any of the other things that are really going on, right? Well, I also value band my value committing to that. So it’s not a, just a factor of laziness or, you know, not thinking ahead. So there is an element where you have to. Again, acknowledge, um, what their circumstances are and it’s, it’s a way to get people in.

right? That don’t maybe fit the entire package or the ideal profile of someone who’s looking to get college credit. One other thing I did want to ask, because this is going to vary by state, how is the funding? You said it’s a $6,000 coupon earlier, and that’s a big sell to parents. Who is actually paying for it? Is it a state of Texas thing? Is it a collaboration between Leander,

Tell me a little bit more about the funding.

Sarah Spradling (31:30.27)

You know, I don’t know the right answer to this. Um, you know, it’s, you know, I believe ACC is Austin Community College here. I believe it’s partially state and the community college who are footing the bill there. Because I know the community college has, you know, it’s not an expense to the district. If anything for us, it is a huge cost savings because the more students

Matt Sterenberg (31:33.772)

Listen, it’s good. The bill’s getting paid. I don’t know who gets the invoice.

Sarah Spradling (32:00.278)

these dual credit, like say English, for example, through Austin Community College, that’s less sections of English 3 or English 4 that I have to offer on my campus. And so that means I have, you know, I’m not having to maybe even, I can eliminate a whole teacher. I mean, which, sorry, teachers, but they’re hard to get, they’re hard to come by these days. So it really is a big savings for the…

the college, especially when students are taking it in the summer or online and not even on our campus, right? But in terms of that, I believe it’s the community college in the state that are footing the bill. The community college has brought up in the past wanting to possibly charge a minimal fee like of $100 per class. I know that it’s not purely the state because I know there are other community colleges in the state of Texas that their dual credit program.

is the students are incurring a fee or having to pay for the ability to take those classes. So my best educated guess would be that ACC has a big investment in that. And I feel really fortunate because of, you know, it’s actually they’re limited to, high school students are limited to 12 college classes that they can take for free that are transferable college classes to a four-year institution. So the coupon, the coupon,

is actually could be a lot more than the random $6,000 that I threw out. That was really based on when I did those calculations to present to parents. I have it down to the dollar in my presentation that I share. I explained to them that this is what it would cost you if you were paying for the classes at Austin Community College. This is what it would cost you for those same credits at Texas State University, a very reasonably priced institution.

Or if you like, let’s say you transfer these to University of Colorado and Boulder, right? Like, this is what that would cost you. And when they see that breakdown and the fact that they’re having to pay nothing except for textbooks, that’s a huge, huge sell. So thanks Austin Community College and the state of Texas if y’all are the people behind this because it’s been an amazing program. Mystery benefactors, I don’t know.

Matt Sterenberg (34:15.68)

If you are paying for it, thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, this has been great. Thank you so much for joining me, Sarah. It sounds like you’re doing amazing work at Vandergrift and it sounds like, yeah, just really cool opportunities for students and it feels like it’s really making a positive impact on the community.

Sarah Spradling (34:29.366)

Thanks.

Sarah Spradling (34:37.834)

Yeah, it really is fun and thanks for letting me have a chance to share what I’m doing here.

There’s always more to learn.