The Running Start program in Washington state allows high school juniors and seniors to attend college courses numbered 100 or above, tuition-free, while completing high school. It is similar to other dual enrollment programs common at public and private colleges and universities in other states. The program was piloted in the early 1990s and officially approved to begin in the fall of 1993.
Running Start provides up to two years of paid tuition at any of Washington’s community and technical colleges, and at Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Washington State University, and Northwest Indian College . High school juniors who can pass the entrance exam for a local community college may take part or all of their coursework at the community college. Successfully passing a course earns a student both high school and college credit.
Running Start students can complete a substantial number of their first two years of college credits early. After high school, they pay for fewer community college credits before moving on to four-year institutions. It is possible for a motivated student to earn both a high school diploma and a two-year college associate's degree simultaneously.
New state regulations took effect on July 26, 2011, limiting Running Start students to a 1.0 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) limit for High School or Higher Education courses each, and a 1.2 FTE limit for both institutions combined. (1.0 FTE is equivalent to 15 college credits, or 1500 High School weekly minutes of instruction). Students who wish to take more than 15 college credits may pay the regular tuition rate and still receive dual credit.
Famous quotes containing the words running and/or start:
“... with dozens of as yet
Unrealized projects, and a strict sense
Of time running out, of evening presenting
The tactfully folded-over bill?”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Professor: War is hell, Mr. Thornhill, even if it’s just a cold one.
Roger Thornhill: If you fellows can’t lick the Vandamms of this world without asking girls like her to bed down with them, and fly away with them, and probably never come back, perhaps you ought to start learning how to lose a few cold wars.
Professor: I’m afraid we’re already doing that.”
—Ernest Lehman (b.1920)