College classes are time-consuming, stressful, and hard to understand. But with this comes a big pay-off, giving college credits and experience in the course. These courses were only available to upperclassmen and were very difficult to manage. Many of the older students who know how to juggle their high school work with other things take these courses to get these credits. But now, MECA (Mt. SAC Early College Academy) is offering these courses to incoming freshmen, who have little to no experience with the amount of work it takes to complete the courses.

MECA is a dual-enrollment high school in association with Mt. San Antonio College. This means that students can take college classes in high school and have the chance to earn their IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum), complete their UC undergraduate general requirement courses, or earn their Associate’s degree. Being able to take college courses is a luxury for some high schoolers, as not every school offers this, and they save money and time in college by taking them. Although it is provided, it is a lot of extra work and takes a large amount of time, but for MECA kids, it is worth it.

“Some [college courses] force you to channel an academic drive or find one if you don’t have one already, and it takes getting used to,” says Parisa Rodriguez, a sophomore. “As a person who finds high school more of a breeze than others, college classes keep my head on tight!”

Previously, students could only take college classes starting their sophomore year, but it has been announced that starting next year, freshmen will be allowed to take these courses as well. Studying these courses already takes a mental toll on the minds of older students, and freshmen having access to these courses brings up the concern of how they will handle the workload and the stress accompanying it.

“The workload is not much, but trying to keep up is pretty hard,” explains senior Alex Quintero. “The professors teach at an intermediate level and are not very kind when it comes to assignments and emails. When I was a sophomore, my high school grades tanked due to my college classes. I don’t really think that the freshmen can handle it, and I feel bad if they decide to take it and not keep up with the work.”

Other students are excited for the freshmen to experience these classes.

“It’s good for them,” says sophomore Charlie Zhu. “They have more opportunities to make a better future. I shouldn’t be jealous because they are the new generation. They deserve it.”

The benefits of earlier college classes could provide a great boost for freshmen in their future careers. It could be a game changer, saving money, time, effort, and more.

“The workload is not much, but trying to keep up is pretty hard,” explains senior Alex Quintero. “The professors teach at an intermediate level and are not very kind when it comes to assignments and emails. When I was a sophomore, my high school grades tanked due to my college classes. I don’t really think that the freshmen can handle it, and I feel bad if they decide to take it and not keep up with the work.”

“College courses take a lot of writing and reading,” Ryan McDonnell, principal of MECA, explains. “So the best way we could think of giving them the experience of college without overloading them with work was by feeding them the work slowly each semester… Because you’re taking these classes early, you won’t have to do them as much later.”

McDonnell further explains, “It can also save you money as sometimes, we take groups of students in the school van to the college or you can take the online college classes. Being able to do this can save on gas, and by asking the upperclassmen, you might be able to save money by borrowing their textbooks.”

But knowing college classes, it could be difficult to manage them. This now raises the concern of what happens if you fail the college classes, questions like, can these courses affect your overall high school grade, and what types of downsides are there to failing these courses? With all the risks, will it be worth taking the college courses?

Claire Contreras, MECA counselor, addresses these questions and explains, “If you attempt college courses and don’t pass 67% with a C or better, it can affect financial aid. Failing these classes can also drop your high school and college GPA (Grade Point Average) significantly if you receive a D or F in a college course, and it can also make your college application less strong.”

Although freshmen may seem hesitant to attend these classes, there is reassurance in these classes. One benefit of taking these courses early is being able to drop the class and replace it with an elective.

“Students will be able to get into the groove of balancing college and high school classes earlier, making it an easier transition to 10th graders with taking four college classes in the year,” says Contreras. “If they are failing the class early into the year or don’t like the course, they can drop the class and wait until 10th grade and take another elective.”

Being able to take college classes as a freshman can either boost you high up in your high school days or drop you down a hole that can impact your future. Being ready to take classes early is up to the student. If they put the effort into the classes, they reap their rewards. In the end, whether freshmen decide to put in the effort or procrastinate is up to them. All MECA can do is support them and encourage them to do the work.