16-year-old earns WSU degree without stepping on campus

I wish I would have tried to do it.

You'll probably never experience military life, and probably neither will she. Does that make your life any less of an experience? No.

Finishing a degree online may not have given her the college experience you had, but that doesn't make the experiences that she did have any less meaningful or fulfilling, especially for a young teenage girl.

Well, we're all humans, and we humans have certain needs, like study, love, friends, adventure, etc, and the need to share similar life experiences with many other humans, like with everyone who also went to college.

This is why I think talk of a higher education bubble is too general. I am certain many colleges are overpriced but, by no means will colleges ever go away, or even be extremely different. We are not talking tulips here.

I hope tuition prices come way down, but the college experience is here to stay. Heck, if you're desperate for great employees who could have their pick of jobs, you tend to turn your company into "college". Just think of Google or for that matter Microsoft, or most big tech companies and their "campuses."

A high school age person getting a college degree does not surprise me. I don't think this is unusual at all. Many kids are far more capable than we give them credit for. As for the social aspects, I would tend to agree with you.

When my wife was a 15 year old college student, people assumed she was quite a bit older. She was intellectually, emotionally, and socially ready for college at that age. Those students who are ready in all three ways are often overlooked. Other students are ready intellectually but missing the social or emotional aspects, and they're the ones you're more likely to notice.

If you or I have a daughter who finishes high school early, college might not be the best option, or it might. You have to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis.

I started college at 15 while being dual-enrolled both at a high school and college 2 years ago. Unlike anonymoushn's experience, I went to a commuter community college, so I didn't live on campus or really participate in any campus events, as sparse as they were.

I do feel that I've missed the high school and college experience to a degree, since I've spent my last two years at high school attending classes with older people of relatively mediocre talent with little interaction with others. I lost touch with most of my friends from high school that I kept up with since middle school, since we really only saw each other in school.

I will echo anonymoushn's experience that it was a pretty stressful time for me, being pretty isolated and alone and forced to do a lot of things alone. There were some periods where I got the lowest I have ever have into the pits and depths of depression, mainly from being so alone and feeling a little hopeless. It didn't help that I was working insane hours during my only free time during the summer between my junior and senior years of high school and had no time for any fun or relaxation at all.

I do appreciate the fact that I had 2 years of college paid for by the state fully, and that I got a leg up in life that way. I also spent a lot of that 2 years listening to a lot of music and learning a lot about myself. There was definitely a lot of wasted time and things I regret from that period. I almost failed out my first semester at the community college from procrastinating so much and being thrown into such a new and strange environment with no support. My academic record went on a big nose-dive during this period and I really regret that, it hasn't helped me any during my college admission period.

It was pretty bittersweet, and I feel the effect that it has had on my life since I'll have to continue at the same college for another year to finish an associates degree in computer science (another downside to starting college alone with no support and as the first in your family to go to college -- a lot of __really__ important things like planning out your classes and academic roadmap don't really occur to you until it's a little late), and have little choice but to attend another cheap state commuter college for the last 2 years of the Bachelor degree.

Another upside is that I was exposed to the concept of taking responsibility for my own personal growth and development mentally, physically, and emotionally/socially in my own hands. I realized around the 3rd semester of my time here, I got into panic mode realizing I had 1 semester left of high school. I felt like it went much too fast and that I missed too much, but refused to just wallow in despair like before. I've gone ahead and taken the initiative to try to learn about things that interest me and skills that I both enjoy and can market, take care of my body by learning how to eat better, exercise regularly, sleep on a sane schedule (a problem that slaughtered my productivity and academic record), and to be more bold and confident amongst groups of people, especially to girls.

It's been a bitter pill to take, but I think I've grown a lot as well.

The administration liked to tell parents of prospective students that "No student has ever died here." This was true, but only due to their unwritten policy of expelling students who reacted to their new environment by becoming extremely depressed. I did not learn of this policy until we heard (at a wing meeting) that a student who had left the program a couple months prior had recently taken his own life.

Among the students who do not complete the program, many of them are still able to make use of the head start it provides. They often simply transfer to another university or continue attending the same university and never bother graduating from high school. Among students who do complete the program, there are still many for whom it was too much, and they will live with whatever non-physical damage they sustained for the rest of their lives.

It was probably the most stressful thing I have ever done, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. The friends I made there are some of the most amazing people I have ever known, and if I were 2 years behind my current track I would still be a year away from graduation.

$3000 less per semester, AFAIKT.