URBANA, Ohio — A state program designed to help high school students who want an early start on college allowed Laurie Castle to graduate from Triad High School in 2001 and from Urbana University one year later.

        The program, known as Post-Secondary Enrollment Options, is not for everyone, but can provide both practical and financial benefits to students with aptitude for early college work.

        It allows high-school students to attend college full time during regular school hours — tuition-free.

        At the same time, students earn credit toward high-school graduation without ever stepping inside their high school for another class.

        Those taking part in the program, which was created in 1989, “must have a little bit of courage,” said Dr. Charles Newman, chair of the business department at Urbana and Castle's adviser there.

        “You need to be ready to admit that you can embark on a new life and that can be a very, very tough thing at any age.”

        Most students in the program take an additional two or three years after graduating from high school to finish their college education, Newman said.

        Castle has been a full-time student at Urbana since she was 15, and attended summer school so she could finish college in three years.

        She said she chose early college because high-school classes posed little challenge, but acknowledged that she might have missed out on certain experiences.

        “Sometimes I felt a little cheated because when you're 16 and in college full time, there were things I simply wasn't able to be a part of,” she said.

        Castle wanted to be involved in the college's student government, for example, but couldn't work the meeting times into her schedule. Still considered a high-school student, she continued her volleyball and basketball careers at Triad but lost out on any chance at collegiate athletics.

        The Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program, funded through the Ohio Department of Education, paid for her books, fees, materials and tuition for two years. Her family paid for summer school, the last year's tuition, and room and board when she moved to a campus dormitory after graduating from high school.

        In 2000, 7,875 students from 562 public-school districts in Ohio enrolled in college courses through the program. There are 71 Ohio colleges and universities that participate in the early enrollment program.

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