Early College vs. senior year transfer vs. DE/online

Parents Forum
1

After the mix-up with S25’s Spanish class this fall, we’re paying a bit more attention to how things look for next year and he’s realizing that he has likely nearly maxed out most of the available in-person options and will need to do something different next year. He would like to do his sport in college (all divisions still theoretically on the table).
Current course work: AP Bio, AP Lang, AP Gov, independent study Spanish, AB Calculus. He’s already taken chemistry and physics (no honors or AP options currently available).
For next year, he may only have two, semester-long elective English classes to choose from (pending info from guidance office, already taken AP Lit) and possibly AP World or a year-long history elective. The rest is a bit up in the air.

Here’s how I see his options:

  1. in-person as much as possible, math and science likely online or as some kind of independent study, depending on what they are able to offer in person. Online he’d have access to AP Stats, AP Macro, AP Micro, BC Calc, and a few history or English electives. He does not want to take AP Spanish online if it’s an option, so he would likely be done with Spanish. He may have the opportunity to TA a Spanish 1 class. He is adamant that he does not want to be fully online, and he is also getting weary of the tiny class sizes.
  2. in-person plus 2 dual enrollment classes (the state will pay for 2 per semester).
  3. early college - state-sponsored program. He’d apply to and be fully enrolled at a local college or CC, then reenroll and graduate from his HS at the end of the school year, but also have the credits (in theory, depends on where he lands next of course) from a year of college. He can still participate on his high school team - but I don’t know how or if this option impacts his eligibility, both in terms of course work and standing.
  4. transfer high schools for senior year - this option comes with the need to pay not insignificant tuition earlier than planned along with other minor stuff (how to deal with LORs, new team/coach/social scene, etc., lengthy commute)

We’ve got a little time to work through this, but not a ton, so any insight would be helpful.

2

If option 3 means taking college courses at a college while still formally a high school student, that may be the option that gives the most choices of courses (including more advanced than AP ones, or the appropriate level of Spanish based on the college’s placement procedures, or courses in not-typical-high-school subjects like philosophy and sociology) as well as giving him an introduction to how college courses operate (much less supervision than high school, more student self motivation and time management needed).

However, if he plans to play his sport for a college team, investigate the NCAA rules on the matter.

3

Thank you!
Turns out I have the DE course allowance wrong - it’s 2 total courses in high school (juniors/seniors only), not 2 per semester or year unfortunately.
I think given that reality, it’s really down to options 3 or 4 right now. I’m waiting for confirmation from the GC on how the coursework appears on his transcript. It’s an interesting option for a lot of the reasons you mentioned. That being said, the social piece is a real challenge according to his friends who are currently in the early college program, and he is legitimately concerned about that. This is also a big reason why options 1/2 are looking less viable.
I’m looking into the NCAA guidelines as well and hoping that his coaches will have some insight.