<p>The deadline is coming up for any high school students that would like to participate in the Spring semester. My D attended the on campus experience last summer after she graduated from high school and loved it! She got her feet wet and familiar with the UA campus and surrounding area. She also came away with a 4.0 and several credits out of the way at a fraction of the cost of taking them in the regular school year. They are very generous with scholarships for OOS. Believe there were a little over 100 students that participated in Summer II last year that came from all over the country and Germany. </p>
<p>If you have any questions about EC please feel free to ask away. </p>
<p>[UA</a> Early College](<a href=“http://uaearlycollege.ua.edu/]UA”>http://uaearlycollege.ua.edu/)</p>
<p>Thanks for cheerleading this program!</p>
<p>We didn’t look into it too much and basically ignored it. Based on your posts, whenever I speak to local students, I now encourage them to look into it. You can be sure in a few years my next son will take an in-depth look.</p>
<p>I am so glad my D discovered the program. It was a great experience. She was thrilled to start off her college experience with a 4.0 and even more credits out of the way. However, I pointed out to her that the 4.0 was with mandatory study hours every day, no football games, no sorority activities, etc. None of the distractions that are around in the Fall and Spring semesters. It really made her realize how much she was going to have to put into her studies on a regular basis. It was a great experience! </p>
<p>Other schools do offer an early college program. SMU in Dallas offers it but the cost is almost triple compared to UA. I plan on my younger D taking advantage of EC as early as possible.</p>
<p>My D participated in Early College as well, but did not attend the summer sessions. She took an online class the summer between her Junior and Senior year in highschool, and took a couple of online classes during her senior year. It helped get her feet wet as well, and gave her credits and a little breathing room in her schedule. For us, it was the same cost as if she had attended the local junior college, but they were UA credits. For those of you who are crazy about football, it is UA credits that get you priority for football tickets, not all credit hours. So transfer credits and AP credits do not help get you higher on the list, but UA Early college does. 
We have encouraged many people to take advantage of this opportunity. If I remember correctly you can start taking online classes as early as the summer between your sophomore and junior year in HS.</p>
<p>The staff at the early college, and the professors are great. They will even work with you to make a sure that any classes you take can be transferred to any other schools you may be looking at.</p>
<p>“If I remember correctly you can start taking online classes as early as the summer between your sophomore and junior year in HS.”</p>
<p>That timeline has actually changed. Students may now begin taking UA Early College classes online at any point during their sophomore year after completing the Gateway course. That’s a change from previous years when students needed to wait until spring semester of their sophomore year of high school to begin taking online classes. The summer residential programs are for the summer following junior or senior year of high school. Our students have enjoyed their experiences and earned credits through UA EC.</p>
<p>How much does this program typically cost?</p>
<p>I had to go see what we paid this past year. It was around $1500 after the OOS scholarship was applied. This did not include the $40 fee to take the Gateway Course. Books were also additional. However, on the UA EC website I just found this, [Scholarships</a> | UA Early College](<a href=“http://uaearlycollege.ua.edu/scholarships/]Scholarships”>Tuition and Scholarships - College Credit in High School - UA Early College)
Worth checking out in order to have free books for EC if your parents join. Wish I’d known that last year. </p>
<p>They only put a small amount on a Bama Cash card for students to use for meals. Most ate off campus, had food delivered (there is a service that delivers from many local establishments), or cooked their own.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. My youngest is a junior in high school. She is familiar with online classes and went to UA last summer for SITE for a week.</p>
<p>How many classes did the $1500 cover? I looked at the Scholarship page but didn’t see an amount for each class.</p>
<p>How many classes did your child take? at the campus? or online?</p>
<p>My D took the Gateway course online, believe that is the only way to take that. She took 2 classes on campus during Summer II.</p>
<p>Do you think it’s worth the cost of doing ua early college if I’ll be a pres scholarship recipient in the fall? Would it be good for me to get a head start with classes or just wait a month till the scholarship will cover me?</p>
<p>“Worth checking out in order to have free books for EC if your parents join. Wish I’d known that last year.”</p>
<p>FYI…the book scholarship provides $25 which is a nice perk since we were members, but hardly free books. </p>
<p>Our kids have each taken several classes through EC over the years. Students are approved by an advisor, Dr. Causey, for up to two courses at a time per semester online. Online courses are available during fall, spring, and two summer sessions. The residential program is only during the two summer sessions and requires living on campus. The scholarship provides basically for an OOS to pay in state tuition rates. If my memory serves me correctly, it seems like it was around $200 per credit hour per course. The cost will vary depending upon tuition rates and the number of hours for which the student enrolls. There are benefits for students who successfully complete a certain number of hours before entering as a freshman student if they attend the UA (housing selection, etc.)</p>
<p>This has been a worthwhile experience for our children. I highly recommend looking into UA EC, and as ambassadors, my children would be happy to answer questions via PM. Many thanks to another CC parent for answering our questions about the program in prior years.</p>