Early College

Early College Success For First Generation Seniors

The Early College Program is an effort to transform the high school senior year experience by immersing all 12th graders in an entire year of college courses at accredited institutions like Rutgers University. The LEAP Social Enterprises’ participation in the Early College Program has become an important strategy for preparing first generation students for college by increasing the number of college credits earned in high school, while also exposing students to real-life experiences in a college environment.

In its third year of operation, the LEAP Academy Early College Program continues to increase the number of college credits earned in high school, while also exposing students to real-life experiences in a college environment.

The graduating seniors across the 2017 and 2018 LEAP Academy Early College Program cohorts earned over 2,400 early college credits, for an average of approximately 21 credits per student. Early College Program participants have accepted admission to top tier institutions like the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Princeton University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, George Mason University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

For Rutgers and Rowan Universities, the Early College Program has become an effective tool for recruiting students into their freshman class. Many of these students made the decision to attend Rutgers University and Rowan University based on the intrinsic value of continuing along the path at an institution where they had already gained a substantial amount of college credits. This direct link to the world of higher education is what makes the LEAP Social Enterprises’ Early College Program and its accompanying dual-enrollment partnership programs so unique and effective in promoting student success.