First, they are so close to MSU and other schools that the travel barrier isn’t there. Second, and perhaps the biggest factor, students who enroll in advanced placement classes are surrounded by academically gifted students.

Because of this, Frederickson said, they’ll be challenged more than they would be in a typical class of, say, English composition 101 at MSU. Such classes are filled with students who would typically have scored lower on standardized tests than the students in an advanced placement class in high school.

Klinzing said the state is a firm believer in the PSEO program.

“PSEO provides students with rigorous opportunities for credit that they may not otherwise be able to get in their local schools,” she said. “It also gives them a chance to know firsthand what it’s like to be in a college setting.”

There are a few drawbacks to PSEO, especially if a student spends a lot of his or her time on the college campus.

“You miss out on senior year,” Frederickson said. “That’s what some students have told us. They felt like they missed out. And then there have been other kids who were fine with it.”

Frederickson said he’s hoping to survey students who participated in PSEO to get a better idea of what they’ve been satisfied and dissatisfied with.

And to get the word out to parents, he said they’ll be hosting a mandatory information session for any parents wishing to enroll their children in a PSEO program.

At Le Sueur, Enerson said the high numbers they’ve seen are partly a result of younger students seeing what the older students are doing and wanting to join in.

Whatever the cause, it has been cost-effective to use concurrent enrollment.

For each student that leaves the high school to take a PSEO course, the state funding the school receives for that student goes with them.

Enerson said that for each student who leaves, they lose about $6,000. By contrast, they pay MSU about $1,500 for each concurrent enrollment class. It’s easy to see why Le Sueur-Henderson, from a financial perspective, appreciates concurrent enrollment.