COLUMN: 29 credits before college, not a penny spent
My name is Amanda and I did not have to pay anything for my first 29 credits of college.
It is not very often that you run into someone who has completed 71 credits before entering their second year of college without being a transfer student or taking advanced placement classes.
In high school, I decided to start my college career out right by taking some dual enrollment courses.
Only high school juniors took the ACT test and you had to have an ACT score to even be considered for dual enrollment course sign up.
I took the ACT at Lake Superior State University my sophomore year.
I was given a waiver from my high school to waive the fee of the test, because I was in the low-income family category. The score wasn't spectacular, but it was just enough to sign up for the classes I wanted.
My very first college course was online through Bay Mills Community College. It was difficult, and I took it with a few other classmates.
My high school paid for the credits, and the LSSU Upward Bound program let me use the required materials for free, as long as I gave them back when I was finished with the course.
At the end of my junior year, I accumulated seven college credits through BMCC.
Senior year was not the typical slack off year for me. I ended up with three college courses each semester and I had to travel up to LSSU twice a week.
Typically, I would have to pay for the gas to travel up to the college, but I lucked out and was able to catch a ride on the skills center bus.
I had earned 25 credits by the time I graduated from high school.
Summer rolled around before going to college for the first time here at Central Michigan University. I stayed in the LSSU residence halls for six weeks with the rest of the Upward Bound kids, but this time as a bridger, and for the very last time.
As a bridger, Upward Bound paid for one summer course taken through LSSU.
I took a humanities course that was four credits and six weeks long. I did not have as much trouble with the humanities course as I had the first course I took my junior year.
Six weeks later, I had 29 college credits under my belt coming into CMU.
I am officially in my second year of college with 71 credits and plan to graduate with a bachelor's degree at the end of my third year at CMU instead of having to go a fourth year.
With thinking ahead and choosing right, I was able to cut off a whole year of college and didn't have to pay a penny for it.
