Scholarship for early high school graduation unpopular

Only 15 teenagers have applied for the 2-year-old Jump Start Scholarship program offered by the South Dakota state government, which may provide $18,000 in financial aid for school for go-getters who graduate high school a year early. According to the Argus Leader, qualifying students would study at one of 19 participating South Carolina colleges.

Fort Pierre legislator Ted Perry, who got the idea to sponsor such a bill when he observed a similar program in Indiana, told the news source that he chalks up the lower-than expected number of applicants to poor marketing.

However, the Leader notes that seven out of the 15 students who qualified were well on their way to early graduation before college scholarship opportunities through Jump Start existed. In addition, some experts are wary of shipping students off to higher education too early.

"There’s some concern that a student who finishes high school at 16 or 17 may not be emotionally or mentally mature enough to handle going to college full time," Dounary Zinth of the Education Commission of the States told the news source.

In 2009, the New York Times reported on a College Confidential article from a student considering early college enrollment. One commenter advised against the choice, and wrote that leaving high school early "ruined my life." Another wrote that it was the among the "best decisions I have ever made." Clearly, it's a complicated decision.

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