STACYVILLE – When most college freshmen head off to campus for the first time, they arrive with many of the typical supplies – a sturdy backpack, money for books and a cube-sized refrigerator – in tow.

This fall, 20 percent of the Class of 2007 at Katahdin High School will have those provisions and something more: a host of college credits already on their transcripts.

Of the 43 members of this year’s graduating class, nine are participating in early college programs. Another student, junior Brittany Landry, also is taking part.

Early college programs give students the opportunity to take college courses while they are still in high school.

“It is really amazing what these students have already accomplished as part of their college careers,” Rae Bates, the principal of KHS, said during an interview at the high school last week. “These students not only are taking a full load of high school classes, they also are taking college courses in everything from philosophy to calculus and geology to meteorology. It’s wonderful.”

In the past two years, the number of KHS students who have participated in early college programs has flourished. Last year, three students participated in the programs. This year, 10 students are taking part.

Those students are juggling a heavy workload and doing it successfully, Bates said. Many of the students have received A’s in their higher education classes, and no one has received a grade lower than a C in any college class he or she has taken.

Students throughout the state have many options for taking college courses while they are still in high school.

Early College for ME, a program through the Maine Community College System, gives students the opportunity to take college courses during their senior year of high school. Upon approval, students can take one or two community college courses and ECforME pays for tuition, fees and books.

Students also can take advantage of the Access College Early, or ACE, program, which is offered through the Great Maine Schools Project at the Mitchell Institute and funded by a grant from the National Governors Association. The ACE program allows high school students who are not clearly college-bound to have an experience that can directly affect how they think about higher education, themselves and their future.

The ACE program has paired 14 postsecondary institutions with 43 high schools throughout the state. Students can take early college courses for both high school and college credit. All participating postsecondary institutions have agreed to offer courses for $300 and no fees, and participating high schools are asked to identify matching local funding to sustain the program.

The University of Maine Academ-e program, the first early college distance education program in the state, offers 14 courses for university credit to high-schoolers through online, videoconferencing and on-campus elements.

Academ-e courses will carry University of Maine credit, and students establish a UMaine transcript that enables them to apply their credit hours to a UMaine degree program or to other colleges and universities into which they will eventually matriculate.

The ACE program provides 80 students with scholarships to participate in the Academ-e program each semester.

KHS senior Bryan Noyes has been taking college courses since his junior year. When he graduates later this spring, he will have 12 credits already on his college transcripts.

“I’ve enjoyed the experience, overall,” said Noyes, smiling last week as he talked with eight other classmates who also are participating in early college programs. “It gives me a chance to work independently and access some classes that I can’t take in high school.”

Senior Lyron Blum-Evitts agreed.

“Taking the classes really gives you a chance to see what college-level classes are like,” she explained. “It helps you see what the workload is like when you get to college, so you are better prepared when you step on campus.”

Most of the Katahdin students take the courses online. The high school has a special room equipped with computers where the students can participate in the online classes. Landry, however, drove about 80 miles round-trip to the Houlton Higher Education Center on Friday evenings for a psychology course.

The students agreed that they did encounter some problems with the online courses – there were technical difficulties that needed to be overcome, and some missed the feedback and one-on-one interaction that they normally would receive from being in a classroom with a teacher. But several students also pointed out they received tremendous support from their teachers, whom they turned to for advice on paper topics or help with a difficult subject.

Overall, each student agreed that he or she would encourage other students to explore opportunities for taking college classes before they even set foot on the campus of their choice.

Bates said she believes the number of students who participate in early college programs at Katahdin, and statewide, is on the upswing.

“Our goal is to keep offering these opportunities to our students every year,” she said. “It looks to be a growing trend in the state, and I think that this group of students here at Katahdin has worked very hard to balance a load of both high school and college classes. I’m very proud of them.”