An early college briefing was held Feb. 26 at the Statehouse. (Image courtesy of Anqi Zhang.)

An early college briefing was held Feb. 26 at the Statehouse. Members and representatives from the Joint Committee on Education, local schools and education organizations addressed how the program works, why it is urgently needed in Massachusetts, and called for more funding.

Early colleges are partnerships between traditional high schools and local institutions of higher education. In early colleges, high school students take real college classes during school days, depending on their personal career choices. They receive free transferable college credits after graduation, reducing the cost and time to degree completion.

“We believe that we are able to inoculate our children with early knowledge, that they would be more likely to persist through four years,” said Jeff Riley, Commissioner of Elementary & Secondary Education.

Through the program, students can learn how to make a meeting with a professor, how to make use of technology platform, where the cafeteria is, “so they will have a head start on college before everyone else,” Riley explained.

A EY-Parthenon report shows higher income students are three times more likely to complete a post-secondary degree as their peers from low-income families. However, 72 percent of jobs in Massachusetts require a career certificate or college degree by the end of 2020, according to a report by Georgetown University.

Massachusetts is the most educated state in the union, where approximately 60 percent of the residents aged 20 to 64 have post-secondary credential or degree, said Carlos Santiago, Commissioner of Higher Education.

“But when you break that down by race and ethnicity in particular, we do not look so well,” Santiago said. “Actually, we have among the largest gaps in the nation.”

Among 100 white females who go to college, 65 graduate on time; among 100 college-going Latino males, only 22 graduate. The approximate 43 percent gap is unacceptable, Santiago said.

Rep. Alice Peisch, co-chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Education, said, “The real focus of education policy at the state level for many years has been closing the gap of students from more well-resourced families and those who do not have that advantage.”

A national study showed early college doubles post-secondary completion rates for low-income students. In Massachusetts, there are already 2,300 students who enrolled in the early college program at 16 higher education institutions. The students are performing well academically, scoring a higher grade-point average than fully matriculated college students, said Juana Matias, MassINC chief operating officer.

A total of 23 percent of students enrolled in the program were African American, approximately three times of the black student enrollment population in Massachusetts, Matias said.

“To ensure that these programs continue in their campuses, we need a modest incremental state investment of $2.5 million, to ensure that all our higher education partners can sustain for current students, and most importantly, add an additional 1,000 new students, a 40 percent increase from last year,” Matias said.

Pam Eddinger is President of Bunker Hill Community College, which has been an early college partner with local high schools for five years. She proposed more funding should be put into the program and legislation should scale up the program.

“This is not a risk,” Eddinger said. “The risk is if you don’t take up this business proposal, you will pass up one of the best silver bullets in higher education and secondary education.”