By the end of her senior year, junior Rachael Anne Mallinger will not only have 26 high school credits, but also 24 college credits through Austin Community College and the Early College Start Plus program.

Developed by the district’s transition coordinators last spring, ECS+ is a program for college-bound students, said transition coordinator Jayme Spexarth.

Juniors take English 1301 and history 1302 the fall semester and history 1302 and speech 1311 in the spring semester, earning 12 college credits. As a senior, students take economics 2301 and English 2323 in the fall and government 2305 and sociology 1301 in the spring semester. All these classes are equivalent to English III and IV, U.S. history, government and economics, communication applications and sociology.

“I like that you get a feel of how college life is in the classroom,” Mallinger said. “It’s cool that at the end of the year I will have 12 [college] credits.”

By utilizing this program, students can save thousands. Twenty-four basic credits at ACC cost $1,344. However, the same classes at the University of Texas at Austin cost $6,912 and that’s without room and board, books and other course fees. At Texas State University, tuition runs $4,584, again without factoring in other necessary costs. With ECS+, all classes are free, but students do have to purchase textbooks.

In past years, students took courses through ECS. Spexarth said the big difference between ECS and ECS+ is  that the new version offers a plan so students don’t have to go searching for the correct class to take.

“[My parents] helped me sign up, but it was my choice,” junior Colin Ryan said. “I didn’t want to take AP classes, but I still wanted the college credits.”

Although these classes are taught on campus, they are still college courses.

“I thought it would be more of a high school class, but now that I’m in it, it’s much more like a college class,” Mallinger said.

The professors that currently teach 27 students in the program.

“[The professors] volunteered to teach us, and it’s cool because they are willing to educate us even though they are college professors,” Mallinger said.  

But then again, they are college professors and excuses won’t work.

“The classes are rigorous. It’s real college. The professors don’t care if your dog ate your homework,” Spexarth said.

Ryan said he liked that every Friday there is an off period and that each class has the same people working together.

After three weeks into the program and receiving positive feedback, Spexarth said students can benefit from being in the same classes every year by having a “one-big-happy-family” study group.

But ECS+ is not the only way to earn college and high school credits simultaneously. Just this past summer, 160 students participated in ECS earning a total of 566 hours of college credit and 114.5 high school credits.

Spexarth said taking ACC classes in the summer can open up spots in students’ schedules so they can take classes that they are more interestedduring the year.

“Taking ECS+ or ACC classes is a great way to test the waters before going off to college,” Spexarth said. “ECS+ helps you to get accustomed to a college before actually being at a four-year college.”