Early College Academy at SCC
Santiago Canyon College (SCC) is committed to creating fast-track educational opportunities for high school students interested in getting a head start on their college careers. An example is the Early College Academy (ECA) at Orange High School in the Orange Unified School District.
ECA is an innovative way for high school students to earn both a high school diploma and complete two years of college in the time it takes to go to high school. ECA is an opportunity for all students and requires students to have maturity, independence, and curiosity about what is possible.
Upon completion of the program, students earn a high school diploma and an Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) Certification, which is 45-47 transferable credits to the UCs and CSUs. Many students take additional elective courses to bring their unit total up to 60, allowing them to earn an AA degree from SCC. Program completers participate in SCC commencement, and many are accepted to four-year colleges, including UCs, CSUs, private and out-of-state colleges.
The ability to earn nearly two years of transferable credits while still in high school saves students and their families thousands of dollars in tuition and valuable time that can be directed toward a career or graduate work.
The classes offered at the high school are SCC courses taught by SCC professors and are of identical rigor and content to courses taught at the college campus. The college provides counseling and assessment services for students. Each student has an educational plan that outlines the courses they will take at SCC. Students take a four-year sequence of college classes, two per semester, from 9th through 12th grade. Courses are held at Orange High School.
Professors from SCC are provided orientation to the high schools and staff development workshops on campus. SCC faculty and administrators have access to high school principals and vice principals to deal promptly with student/school issues and parental requests for information as they arise. SCC's Office of Academic Affairs is responsible for the coordination of the ECA.
SCC and the Orange Unified School District have found the ECA to be academically enriching and mutually beneficial to our shared student population. For more information about the process of applying to the Early College Academy, contact the responsible administrator at Orange High School. For other general inquiries about the Academy, you can contact Loann Tran, Director of Special Programs – Dual Enrollment – tran_loann@sccollege.edu or (714)628-5937.
