Recently, I had the pleasure to interview a North Carolina State University alum, Richard Basile, who graduated with his bachelor’s degree last December at only 19 years of age. By utilizing the state’s Career and College Promise program, Basile graduated from Panther Creek High School with 70 college credits already under his belt, then went on to complete his undergraduate degree in one year. His story should remind us of the money-saving strategies that are available to students all over the state, provided they are willing, as Basile was, to work hard.
At the start of his junior year of high school, Basile attended a lunch information session where a Wake Tech advisor spoke about the Career and College Promise (CCP) program. Available across the state, CCP allows high-school students to participate in dual enrollment at any of the state’s community colleges, thus receiving college credits while completing their high-school education. After the information session, Basile says, he “became obsessed with just learning more about the program.” One perk that stood out was free college credit. “If I take CCP courses while I’m enrolled in high school,” Basile remembers learning, “all the CCP courses are completely free. The only thing I have to pay are out-of-pocket costs like software or books.”
Basile’s story should remind us of the money-saving strategies that are available to students all over the state. After further research, Basile enrolled in the program for the spring semester of his junior year of high school. Simply by taking that first step, Basile put himself ahead of the vast majority of his peers. Less than a quarter (24 percent) of the North Carolina community college student headcount during the 2022-23 year were dually enrolled students.
Basile enrolled in two college classes that first semester, then three over the summer, four in the fall, five the next spring, and so on, expanding his workload to maximize what he could properly handle while accumulating as many college credits as possible. He ultimately graduated high school with 70 credits that fully transferred to an in-state public college.
“It’s really smart to apply to in-state colleges, because I know all of these credits will transfer.” “A great thing about the CCP program,” Basile told the Martin Center, “is that, because of the CAA, which is the articulation agreement of the state, if I come in with an associate in arts degree to any university in the UNC System, I must be a junior. So after doing my research, learning about the CAA, I said to myself, well, it’s really smart to apply to in-state colleges, because I know all of these credits will transfer, and I can fulfill my goal of graduating early so I can go to law school.”
The CCP program has been instrumental in helping Basile get closer to his ideal career. “I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer,” he told the Martin Center, “and I’d be the first law student in my family. This was one avenue to get that done in the quickest way possible.”
Basile feels as though his time being dually enrolled helped prepare him for further education and the workforce: “It was definitely a way to adjust myself to being prepared to work in the future. I was handling classes in my high school while going to Wake Tech classes, as well. This was a great skill-builder for me, because I was able to learn time management in the midst of it.”
When it came to gathering information about the CCP program, Basile says, it took some digging to find what he needed. “It was a lot of calling community colleges like Wake Tech. And it was a lot less of talking to high-school advisors, who are not as knowledgeable as a Wake Tech advisor [about the program].”
Basile points to his knack for taking initiative for much of his success in getting started, stating, “You really had to go get it. Like my dad tells me, high agency is the greatest policy. So that’s what I try to take into my life. If there’s information to go get, I’ll be the one to go get it. I’m not going to wait on anyone else.”
Basile reiterates that CCP classes were an invaluable preparation for further education. “It was a great way to prepare me for what actual college work was like. The classes I was taking in community college through the CCP program, compared [to AP classes], are just so different. You’re getting actual college instruction instead of a high-school teacher, [and] you’re getting that in a different environment with other college students.”
“One semester that was kind of crazy in high school,” Basile went on, “I took six CCP classes while enrolled in all of my high-school classes at the same time. And I tried to emulate this in my college career, when, in my last semester in the fall, I took 30 college credits to graduate. I had to get the dean’s approval, and I had to talk to people high up, because my personal advisor was telling me, ‘Is this a good idea?’ So, I was definitely in the mindset of, [this] is going to save me money, [this] is going to help my family financially. I had a lot of skin in the game, because I was the one taking out the loans, and it’s going to be the same way for law school as well.”
Basile is grateful for his new, full-time job at Cisco, which is allowing him to obtain job experience and be able to more easily fund graduate school. “So I’m extremely blessed and capable of pushing the envelope and doing better things in my life because of a program like this. This is a program that really let me flourish.”
Basile found out in high school that the duel-enrollment classes he was taking would count towards his GPA for law school. Basile found out in high school that the classes he was taking would count towards his GPA for law school. “That’s really what drove me,” he told the Martin Center. “I was valedictorian of my class at NCSU. I was probably middle of the [road] in my high school. So a lot of things changed in the latter half of my high-school career. And I didn’t get a single B on any CCP classes or any NC State classes, all A’s and A+’s, because of that mindset and because I really knew that law school was the thing I wanted to do.”
“It’s not like you’re born with procrastination, or you’re born thinking this way. You can change that.” While Basile was successful in juggling his heavy course load while achieving top grades, he did face certain challenges while being dually enrolled, specifically time management. “I say time management [was a challenge] for sure, but also being able to cultivate [my] skills in between all those classes when [I’m] taking in a lot of information. It can be hard to [grasp] or understand important concepts that you’re learning. It taught me a lot about learning not to procrastinate. When things get assigned to me, I complete them. I don’t let things linger anymore. And I think that was a trait that I had in my early high-school years. So it really has taught me that, through hard work, and if you’re ambitious, you can teach yourself to act differently. [It’s] not like you’re born with procrastination, or you’re born thinking this way. You can change that.”
Basile hopes to see improvement in the way students are educated about the CCP program and has ideas for how to achieve that. “I’ve been in touch with the N.C. DPI, which is the Department of Public Instruction. I thought of an idea, and I want it to be completely available, free to the public.” Basile would like to create “a suite of videos that are step-by-step processes of how to find out about your public school’s in-state CCP program.”
He would also like to see promotion of the CCP program to incoming high-school freshmen, so that they can get started as early as possible. He pointed out that there are “two avenues for eligibility [for] the CCP program. One of them is, if you’re a freshman or sophomore, you can start taking college classes, but only if you’re an [Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG)] student. I applied for AIG in third grade, [and] I failed miserably, so I didn’t go through that pipeline.” Non-AIG students, by contrast, may gain eligibility as high-school juniors or seniors. “[If] you’re coming into high school,” Basile said, “it is super important when you’re a freshman or when you’re a sophomore that you should be thinking about it, not that time that I learned about it heading into my junior year. Obviously it all worked out, but the quicker you get it, the better.”
Basile’s personal experience will help pave the way for future students who wish to join the CCP program: “I think a lot of advisors try to push back on students doing this,” thinking, “‘Is this possible? Is this a good avenue for you?’ I think, let the students make that decision for themselves. If this is something they want to move forward with, let them do it themselves. I felt that sentiment a lot when I was meeting with advisors. They [would] say, ‘Are you ready for a workload like this?’ And I would tell them, just let me try to worry about the workload myself. If you see my grades [falling], then let it be known. But let me be the one to make those decisions.”
Basile’s advice to younger students is to not be held back by low expectations or standards that are often set for teens. “One of the last things I’ll leave with is: Try to take advantage of your early years as much as you can. When you’re in high school, there’s just so much to think about, you don’t know where you’re going to end up. There’s a lot of uncertainties, [but] if you can narrow down the uncertainties, that will make you a lot better in life.”
Experiences such as Basile’s indicate how capable students can be. “One thing about me,” Basile concluded “is that I’m 19, but I [feel] like I’ve grown just way faster—for good or for bad, I think mostly for good. The reason I’ve been able to do something like this is because of my personal circumstances, the things I’ve wanted to get done and accomplish early in my life. Right now, I’m at a serene moment. I’m at a job I really like, and I’m looking forward to going to law school. I’m looking forward to fulfilling my dreams, and I want other people to experience something like this, as well. Because it’s really magical.”
Experiences such as Basile’s indicate how capable students can be, reminding us that it is possible to avoid much of the financial burden of college and fast-track your way to a career. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for Basile and wish him the best of luck pursuing a law degree and other endeavors.
Ashlynn Warta is the North Carolina reporter for the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. Some of the quotations in this interview have been lightly edited for readability.
Author
Ashlynn Warta
