More North Carolina public high school students than ever are completing at least one college-level course before graduation, education officials announced Thursday.
Data released Thursday by the state shows 54% of last year’s graduates passed at least one college-level course or exam. Students earned these credits through Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and the Career and College Promise program.
CCP enrollment alone hit 86,998 students during the 2024–25 school year, representing 38% of all graduates.
State Superintendent Mo Greene discusses student success with legislators during a March 31, 2026 hearing. (Photo: NCGA video stream)“For those who have been around a moment and have gray hair or less hair, understand the magnitude of that number, that percentage,” Superintendent Mo Green told members of the state school board. “This, my friends, is amazing. That’s why I say to all who are involved in our public schools in North Carolina, take a bow.”
The state currently leads the country with 138 early college or cooperative innovative high schools. Last year, 6,560 students graduated from these schools. Of those, about 53% earned both a high school diploma and an associate degree at no cost to their families.
State officials estimated the program saved families nearly $87 million in tuition waivers last year. The impact also extends to the workforce; state data shows students in career and technical pathways earn 14% higher wages seven years after graduation compared to their peers.
Sa’Nai Lewis-Dewalt, a senior at Seventy-First High School in Cumberland County, was one of three students at the board meeting who completed college courses while in high school. She said she was initially hesitant to enroll.
“I thought it would take away from my high school experience, but I was severely wrong,” Lewis-Dewalt said.
She said balancing athletics and college-level coursework required strict time management but will allow her to graduate from college two years early.
“The college courses have definitely been challenging,” she said. “As a student athlete, prioritizing and time management have been essential. I have learned to plan my week carefully, finishing assignments way ahead of time whenever I can so that game day, practices, meetings or other school events do not overwhelm me. When you fall behind in a college course, it’s very hard to catch up.”
Other students pointed to the specialized support at early colleges. Jose Aleman, a senior at J.D. Clement Early College High School, earned a full scholarship to Harvard. Yurisbet Diaz Diego, a first-generation student at Edgecombe Early College, credited the program for helping her secure a full scholarship to UNC-Chapel Hill.
Green said the state has moved beyond a time when only top students had access to college-level classes.
“We have reached the point now where over half of our students are doing so,” Green said. “We are at that tipping point where we ought to be able to say, ‘Why are you not doing it?’”
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