LPC offers several programs for high school students to earn college credit, including Middle College, dual and concurrent enrollment. High school students can take college classes either at their high school or at LPC. Even as they dip into college life, students remain enrolled in their high school and participate in sports, clubs and prom.
“Students take three high school classes,” LPC Middle College administrator Amy Brown said. “Traditional high school classes, non-AP, non-honors, but they’re here. Outside of (that) they’re taking their college classes. They take between six and 11 college units.”
The first Middle College cohort in 2015 had around 25 students. In 2017 and 2018, the program expanded to allow a total of 140 students into the program: 70 juniors and 70 seniors.
But while the cohort size has remained the same ever since, the number of applicants has continued to increase over the years.
“We had the highest number of applications last year, and we have a significant waitlist,” Brown said.
END OF YEAR CELEBRATION The 2026 LPC Middle College class stands on the stage of the theater, tossing their mortarboards up in the air in a flurry. (Photo courtesy of Middle College)
The application process for Middle College is extensive. Students must receive five recommendations from high school teachers and their high school counselor in order to apply. They are then interviewed by two LPC, high school or TVROP staff members before possible acceptance into the program.
The Middle College program doesn’t accept students based on academic merit. Rather, it selects students based on various other factors, including high school credits and how much each student would benefit from an alternative pathway into college.
“They can have a GPA pretty much anywhere from close (to) or below a 2.0 to a 4.5 or higher,” Brown said. “We really try through the interview and recommendations to identify the students that are really looking for an alternative.”
Victoria Cao is one of many high school students who benefit from Middle College. Cao is an Emerald High School senior who enrolled in Middle College to push herself academically and have more freedom over how she spends her time.
“I have a lot of caretaking duties at home and I wanted to take accelerated courses,” Cao said. “I think the great part about Middle College is that the high school classes are compressed so you have time for college classes.”
Middle College students also have the opportunity to earn college credits and save a year of school. This is especially appealing to students with extensive major requirements.
“Somewhere between 50-60%, sometimes higher than that, (of) our students choose to continue here at Las Positas for another year to get to their transfer,” Brown said.
In addition to the increase in Middle College applications, Watson noted an increase in students taking concurrent classes at LPC.
“We’re promoting it a lot more, and so students are more familiar with it,” Watson said. “It’s typically like a general ed class for enrichment.”
This increase is in part spearheaded by California Community College State Chancellor Sonya Christian via Vision 2030, a roadmap for colleges to make higher education more accessible. According to the Vision 2030 website , one of the goals was “Expanding dual enrollment pathways to high school students.”
“Not only is it a focus for our chancellor and our college district in general, but it’s one for our state chancellor as well,” Peterson said.
Dual and concurrent enrollment are similar, but distinct. The College and Career Access Pathways dual enrollment program allows students to take college courses at their home high school rather than at LPC.
“That’s when you have a high school teacher who is certified to teach a college-level class at the high school. The student would get both high school credits and credits at the community college,” said Danielle Watson, Granada High School’s college and career specialist.
CCAP dual enrollment was created for California community colleges in 2016. Las Positas adopted the program in January 2024. The classes offered in CCAP dual enrollment are modeled after LPC’s offered pathways.
“We have teams of people that work with the districts to curate a list of classes,” said LPC’s Educational Partnerships project manager Traci Peterson. “Those classes, we pick purposely to have a pathway for students, whether it’s GE, whether it’s an early childhood education pathway (or a) pre-med pathway.”
CLASS OF 2026 for LPC’s Middle College stands in the 1000 building for an overhead photo. Around 50% of the 2026 graduating class decided to stay and continue their education at Las Positas. (Photo courtesy of Middle College)
Concurrent enrollment was established at LPC as a way for high school students to take classes on a college campus. Students have the opportunity to enroll in a college class for free and attend it at LPC, online or in person.
The dual and concurrent enrollment programs at LPC have resulted in more students enrolling at LPC immediately after high school. This benefits LPC — part of the college’s funding is apportioned according to the number of students enrolled.
LPC has recently switched to the Student Centered Funding Formula, which aims to ensure California community colleges’ funding based on student success.
“We just are on a new funding formula called the SCFF,” Peterson said. “We have not begun to see yet how concurrent enrollment would help our budget.”
The dual enrollment program continues to grow, but is facing issues with funding. CCAP dual enrollment classes are funded through a combination of the K-16 Education Collaborative grant and a Full-Time Equivalent Faculty grant.
“Once my grant is over, I have to find another funding source to pay for my CCAP classes,” Peterson said. “They want to grow this program, but they give us absolutely no funding for it at all.”
Three local high school districts — in Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore — receive over $1 million in grants. There’s hope that a portion of that money might be used to pay for CCAP classes. Only time will tell.
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TOP PHOTO: LPC Middle College students Archer, Francisco, Anthony, Panos and Nolan stand outside in front of a mural celebrating their last semester as concurrent enrollment students. (Photo courtesy of Middle College)
Nuha Maflahi is the Campus Life Editor for The Express. Follow her on X @NuhaMaflahiLPC.
