This fall State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, welcomed its first high school freshman class to our new Collegiate School on our Venice Campus. These 75 freshmen will have the opportunity to complete their high school education on our South Sarasota County campus and simultaneously earn an Associate in Arts degree when they graduate in four years.

We opened the SCF Collegiate School Venice three years ago, replicating our successful model from SCFCS Bradenton, an annually A-rated and nationally recognized school. The significant difference between the two schools is that while SCFCS Bradenton enrolls students beginning in sixth grade, SCFCS Venice starts in ninth grade.

Last spring, 48 SCFCS Venice students – who enrolled as 11^th graders in fall 2019 – became our first graduates. More than half of our graduates remained on the dean’s and/or president’s list every semester. Venice’s first seniors earned more than $1.5 million in scholarships to institutions around the state and beyond.

As we build to having all four high school grades in Venice, our goal is to have 100 students per class. SCFCS Venice will begin accepting applications for the 2022-2023 school year in January 2022. We will accept applications for rising 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th grade students. Interested families can complete an intent to enroll form at scfcs.scf.edu/venice. For additional information please visit our website or call 941-408-1451.

The dual enrollment program at our collegiate schools is just one aspect of SCF’s Early College Program. High school students can test their abilities and pursue their interests while earning college credits at no cost by taking college classes on one of our campuses with a college professor. We are committed to ensuring that the quality of courses we offer our early college students meets our high standards and provides a successful path to a college degree.

• Dual Enrollment enables qualified public, private and home education students to enroll in college credit courses offered by SCF.  The credits count toward both a college degree and a high school diploma. 
• Early Admission enables qualified 12^th grade high school students to spend their senior year enrolled at SCF.  Students accepted for Early Admission take all their classes at SCF and must register for at least four classes totaling 12-15 credit hours. Credits count toward a high school diploma and an AA degree. 
• Accelerated Dual Enrollment allows qualified high school juniors to gain college credit and high school credit by attending SCF full time. The students will continue full-time at SCF as seniors to earn their high school diploma and potentially an AA degree from SCF.

Information about SCF’s early college programs is available at www.scf.edu/StudentServices/Registrar/EarlyCollege/default.asp.

As we proudly welcome our first freshmen to SCFCS Venice, we are also excited to see the hundreds of local high school students dual enrolled in courses on campus, online and through Go Live with SCF Online. At SCF, we know that we are the right place for high school students to get a head start on their college education, but I think SCFCS Venice freshman JonHenry says it best:

“The reasons my family chose SCFCS Venice is because of the academic environment and the ability to attend college at an early age. The thing I am looking forward to most is taking the dual enrollment classes. I am very excited to get a head start on my AA degree.”

Dr. Carol Probstfeld is President of State College of Florida, Manatee Sarasota.