Many students think about taking UCONN College classes in high school but aren’t sure if they’re ready. These classes are good opportunities for students as they can be free or cost a fraction of the college’s cost. These classes may be stressful depending on the individual and aren’t as easy as normal classes, but there are many benefits.
The UCONN Early College Experiences (ECE) are available for any students that are in or past their sophomore year. These classes offer credits that will transfer when you go to any CT state college, if it isn’t a CT College the credits will not transfer over. This is useful as you would not have to pay for any of the classes in college that you already have taken, and you’d already have the credit from it.
According to Guidance Counselor Ms. Ramsey, in the 2023-2024 school year, 208 Torrington High School students participated in UCONN ECE classes attempting approximately 1102 college credits in total. This means the average student who is part of one of these classes gained about 5 college credits last school year. Torrington High School offers 39 college credits to students. The money that was saved totaled 695,392 dollars, this means on average each student is saving 3343 dollars compared to the college counterpart they’d be taking.
The classes may be hard but according to Science Teacher Mrs. Norige, “They can help students become better students and help improve their skills.” This is due to the more strict college policies that could be very stressful at first but “it goes on to build their responsibility.” This shows there could be downsides to these classes but students can adapt
Many students are stressed about their UCONN classes on top of their other classes. The policies such as no late work or tests needing make-ups on your first day back from absences can stress kids out and break their self-esteem. Ms Noridge believes “At first it is negative” and she follows it up with “as time goes on it builds up their responsibility, preparing students for college.”
Students feel that despite being beneficial, it won’t always be easy to adjust. Student Bri’ajah Copeland stated, “You may have to miss social events because you have to dedicate more time to these classes, due to the bigger workload.” This means students must put work first so they can have time to themselves without worrying about missing work.
