SPANISH FORK, Utah — When it comes to funding a college education, it’s important to know where you might be able to save money. Programs such as concurrent enrollment and AP classes can help trim the cost of a college education. 

Lana Hiskey, of the Nebo School District, and Matt Christensen, principal of Spanish Fork High School, joined Dave and Dujanovic with Dave Noreiga and Debbie Dujanovic on Thursday to discuss the topic.

“So often we talk about how expensive it is to go to college?” Noriega said. “How do we take care of this? How do we make it more affordable?”

Noriega points out if high school students take AP courses or concurrent enrollment, they can earn a lot of college credit and save thousands of dollars. Concurrent enrollment means a student is enrolled in both high school and college at the same time.

Concurrent enrollment helping families in Nebo School District

Such programs are having a big impact on the Nebo School District.

“We’re excited to report that, we saved our parents over $10 million by taking AP and concurrent enrollment classes,” Hiskey said. “That was just this past year, the year before $9 million. So, we hope parents and students are taking advantage of that.”

Hiskey says the district also offers an Advanced Learning Center through Utah Valley University. The center offers classes such as aviation, robotics and medical science classes. 

“So, it’s pretty exciting,” Hiskey said. “If students want it, they can have it.”

Hiskey says students must talk to counselors about enrolling in concurrent enrollment. She says there are counselors at all five of the district’s high schools that can assist the students.

Scholarships and graduation rates

Noriega said, “You’ve had incredible success with scholarships in this district for kids.”

“That’s the exciting part,” Hiskey said. “Just this past graduation, we had 28.6 million in scholarships for our students. That’s again, over five high schools.”

The Nebo School District also has a high graduation rate. Hiskey credits that to the involvement of both parents and teachers.

“We equate that to parental involvement and the partnership we have with parents,” she said. “But especially our teachers and administration.”

New high schools

Spanish Fork is in the middle of building a new high school, which will be completed in the fall of 2024, according to Christensen. He says Payson and Springville will be getting new high schools in the coming years.

He says one of the fun things about the new high school is the double-decker auditorium.

Christensen says the athletic facilities are state-of-the-art with two full-size gymnasiums.

Dujanovic asked Christensen how many students at Spanish Fork are involved in concurrent enrollment.

“You would be surprised how many kids actually do take it,” he said.  

He said roughly 200 students at his high school were involved last year in some sort of advanced learning. 

Hiskey says 80% of the students in the district take either concurrent enrollment or AP classes. 

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app, as well as Apple Podcasts and Google Play.  

Read more:

• College enrollment numbers dropping nationally, Utah’s solutions

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