When it comes to our four-year degree, the cost these days is about $100,000.

A public institution averages $25,000 a year.

If you could cut that in half, would you?

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis joins us with what might just be the best kept secret in higher education.

- Well, as someone who currently has two kids in college, I'm all too familiar with the rising cost of education.

and the main reason why I told my two daughters they would be applying to in-state colleges only.

Now, depending on where you go, public college, private, or out of state, adding in student loans, investing in a bachelor's degree can ultimately cost more than a half million dollars.

But what if there was a way to earn college credits without actually paying for them?

Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

♪ Your kisses lift me higher Northwest School of the Arts, a magnet school in Charlotte specializing in dance, music, theater, and the visual arts.

And a mainstay at the annual Blumey Awards honoring the best of local high school theater.

- It's a balancing act, especially going to a performing arts school, we have performances, productions, et cetera.

So you're not only working on a regular high school schedule but working on a performance high school schedule.

- [Jason] Much like college, potential students need to apply, be accepted, and choose a major.

- I'm double majoring in fashion design and fashion marketing.

- [Jason] Northwest has multiple students who are actually already enrolled in college.

133 of them through Central Piedmont's dual enrollment program.

- Dual enrollment is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to earn college credit through Central Piedmont while they are enrolled in high school.

- So that means they go to high school each day at their home high school, and then starting in the 11th grade, depending on their GPA, they're able to begin to take college courses.

- [Jason] The program is open to any student in Mecklenburg County, whether they attend a public school, private school, charter school, or even homeschool.

- This is legislatively mandated.

So the North Carolina legislature passed this Career and College Promise program, and it replaced some earlier versions that had existed.

- [Jason] There are some grade point average requirements, and high schools must grant permission.

Classes can be offered at any one of Central Piedmont's six Charlotte area campuses, online, or even at the student's home high school.

- We have between 5 and 6,000 dual enrollment students attending classes.

That makes up about 20 to 22% of our overall curriculum student body.

- The classes are only like, no more than 16 weeks.

And I'm like, "Oh my gosh, yes!"

- [Jason] For students, like Northwest School of the Arts Nyla Martin and Jaison Maxwell, it's a home run, the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school.

- I think they definitely laid it out as a way to one, get ahead in college, but one to get ahead in high school, because of the big GPA boosts with it being considered AP credit.

- We're learning about finances, we're learning about mortgages and car payments and stuff like that.

Things that we'll actually need.

- This step that CPC gives the opportunity for all these kids to earn is awesome.

(upbeat music) - [Jason] For some dual enrollment might be just a class or two, for others it's a way to earn as many college credits as possible, towards either an applied degree or a transfer degree.

Those earned transfer credits are guaranteed to transfer into all of the UNC system universities.

- Students do take classes along a pathway and they are limited to what's in the pathway.

Our most popular is the pathway that corresponds to our Associate Degrees Designed for Transfer.

So a lot of those are getting their general education classes out of the way for students who know that they want to either get an associate in arts with us after they graduate high school, or they wanna go on to a four-year university and they're really getting those liberal arts general education requirements out of the way early so that they can jump right into their major classes when they get to a university.

- [Jason] So you'll be more than halfway done with college?

- Yeah, 'cause I'm earning my associate's degree right now in business as well as the liberal studies pathway.

- [Jason] The main competition for dual enrollment, if you want to call it that, is advanced placement classes where high school students can also earn college credit, but the main difference is how those credits are earned.

- With advanced placement you are in that class all year long, but your credit comes down to how you perform on that advanced placement exam.

And if you have a bad test taking day, you're not feeling well when you walk into the test, everything that year is for nothing.

Whereas during dual enrollment, you are in that class for an entire semester and you're performing all the time.

It doesn't come down to one test.

You have the entire class to perform.

- [Jason] For parents, there might be some concern with their students possibly being overloaded, trying to finish high school while simultaneously doing college coursework.

- So as a mom, I'm concerned.

Will you have time to do this?

Will you have time to devote?

And anything you sign your name onto, you're gonna finish it.

- [Jason] But the best part of the dual enrollment program, and something no parent is probably yet to complain about, it's all tuition free.

That's right, free.

- It's really cool.

You know, my mom was like, "I'm not gonna be paying like $200,000 just for you to go to college."

So, it's great that I can get these classes out of the way and go to college, you know, cheaper.

- I think when parents hear about it, they're very much on board.

Getting to make sure that all the parents know that this is an opportunity is a key message.

- I think more people do need to know.

I didn't know anything about it.

If I had this opportunity when I was in high school, I would've taken it.

- [Jason] Some might say the dual enrollment program is the best kept secret around.

- It really truly is.

It is absolutely the best deal in Charlotte.

You can do upwards of an entire associate degree while you're in high school paying no tuition costs at that point.

- I agree, it's the best deal in Charlotte right now because our students are getting a phenomenal education.

They're getting college exposure, career exploration.

- I wish more students would get involved in this.

- If anyone doesn't know about it, I mean, I'm so sorry.

Like, can we wave a flag like, "Hey, it's here."

"Your opportunity is here."

- Okay, that secret cost me $50,000 in education.

My son already graduated from Clemson a couple of years ago.

You can basically get the first two years before you'd have to transfer to a four year institution.

Amazing.

- It is.

It's cool.

And they do have a couple of other programs.

Early College and Middle College, and those programs are run through CMS.

Early College students start as 9th graders, but are actually taking classes at Central Piedmont's campuses.

So by that time they finish up, they're pretty much have finished up the majority of their required high school credits.

They graduate high school with their diploma and an associate's degree.

Middle College, pretty much the same except students start that in the 11th grade as opposed to 9th.

So plenty of options out there for kids to really start knocking out some of those core classes.

You know, math 101 and some of these main classes.

You know, especially if kids are gonna go to private college, or one of the students we talk with is gonna go to Savannah College of Art and Design.

That's a pricey school.

So if you can knock out some of those early, you know, just the core curriculum classes, definitely save a lot of money - And that's something everyone's looking to do these days.

Thanks so much, Jason.

- Absolutely.