De Soto High School offers 12 classes for college credit through Johnson County Community College.

“Program established with JCCC where our teachers teach classes for college credit to students who meet the placement score. They then have to enroll at JCCC to get credit, not just take the high school class,” counselor Christine Johns said.

These classes cover several subjects, with math and English each having several classes dedicated to their topics.

In addition, several of the classes are not as common. For instance, Matt Bradford, the band director, teaches Advanced Placement Music Theory, which gives students two credit hours toward the  Intro to Music Fundamentals subject at JCCC.

Offering college credit classes gives students a cheaper opportunity for students to get credit. When taking classes through De Soto, the prices are significantly lower than they are when taking it at the college itself.

“There are 182 students enrolled in College Now classes this year, and some double or even triple up, so we have 342 enrollments overall,” Johns said.

“I am taking Spanish IV and Pre-Calc and Advanced Placement Language and Composition, which add up to about $1,200 in credit, allowing me to go into college with many of the credits I would need to get freshman year,” junior Mackenzie Barnes said.

These classes let students save hundreds in preparation for college, and give students looking for a challenge more difficult classes to take.

“Through DHS we are able to take college courses for very cheap. They are $93 at JCCC if you take them through the school, which is much cheaper than through the college itself,” Barnes said.  

There are many advantages with taking college now through JCCC. One of them is that, because JCCC is such a well-known school, it gives a very good transferability rate to four year colleges.

The trouble normally occurs when a class is not required by the four year college, and while it is rare for a class to be rejected by the college, it can happen.

“I always say students should talk to an adviser in the area they want to go into at the college to make sure the credit hours will transfer,” Johns advises.