A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (www.chronicle.com) has highlighted the Bridge to Start program launched by Smart Horizons Career Online Education (SHCOE; www.test2.shcoe.org) and Education To Go (ed2go; www.ed2go.com) in May of this year.
One of the most prestigious and widely followed publications in the education industry, The Chronicle of Higher Education cited Bridge to Start as a program with the potential to enable millions of students to continue their education in post-secondary institutions.
Due to changes in federal legislation that became effective on July 1, 2012, students without a high school diploma or a recognized equivalent (such as a GED) will no longer be allowed to receive federal financial aid to attend college. This legislation affects millions of U.S. students, including approximately 25 percent of the student population currently enrolled in post-secondary career training programs.
The world’s first AdvancED/SACS accredited online school district, SHCOE offers an instructional program that enables students to earn both an 18-credit high school diploma and a credentialed career certificate at the same time. ed2go, a division of Cengage Learning, is a leading provider of online courses for adult and continuing education students with over 2 million students enrolled in its various courses.
The educational framework for the Bridge to Start program is provided by Career Online High School (COHS), which was established as a special high school division within ed2go’s global online system and is powered by SHCOE’s accredited online school district.
The Chronicle of Higher Education characterized the Bridge to Start program as an ideal and readily-accessible means for students who lack their high school diploma to continue receiving federal financial aid. Bridge to Start provides a fast-track, accredited online high school program that is specifically designed to re-engage adults who never earned their diploma back into the educational system, giving them a Bridge to Start their education, their career, and their life.
