Stay in high school that extra year?

The Detroit Free Press reports.

5 years of high school can net students college degree

Justin Schlehuber is starting his freshman year soon in Lincoln Park, and one thing is already certain: He’ll be in high school for five years. But when he leaves, he’ll have something most other graduates won’t: a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.

It’s a bold trade-off — an extra year of high school for the kind of coursework that can lead to a job or a sweet cushion of college credits. And it’s one that’s becoming increasingly popular in Michigan.

When the 2015-16 school year kicks off, there will be 90 early/middle college programs and schools — 20 of them new in school districts across the state, including in Dearborn Public Schools, Ferndale Public Schools and Lincoln Park Public Schools. In 2010, there were only eight.

The idea is simple. Students, often as early as the ninth grade, take a mixture of high school and college classes — with the number of college courses taken increasing each year. The longer they’re in the program, the more immersed in the college culture students become, with the fifth year typically spent taking only college classes.

At the end, most students have earned enough credits for an associate’s degree. And the attractive kicker for parents? It’s all free for the student.