In education, little is more important than advocating for students. The demands of gateway, curriculum-level courses—coupled with the newness of college—can often enlarge barriers for underprepared students.

There has been a lot a buzz about corequisite and accelerated learning programs as a way to help the incoming student population.

Here are five reasons we’ve heard why this kind of course is worth consideration:

1. Decrease Debt 
College is expensive. Coreq and accelerated learning courses reduce tuition and other costs associated with prerequisite classes.

2. Lose the Stigma 
Anyone can get buried under the weight of negative associations. Boost morale and raise expectations by helping students get rid of the mentality that they are not college material.

3. Encourage Progress 
As an educator, you value the time and energy students put into your courses. Giving students the opportunity to earn college credit within their first year helps them see how their effort progresses them toward their end goal.

4. Limit Pressure
Students know that passing first-year courses is key to their college success. Decrease the pressure of gateway courses by ensuring students know that if support is needed, it will be there and aligned with curriculum-level content.

5. Increase Retention 
Ideally, all students who begin college get to end it with a degree. Corequisite and accelerated learning models help reduce time to the finish line as well as attrition between terms.