Earn College Credit. Experience All of Bellarmine.

If your family is weighing whether to keep your student at Bellarmine for junior and senior year or enroll them in Running Start at Tacoma Community College or Pierce College, this document is for you. Both programs allow students to earn college credit while still in high school, but they differ significantly in experience, outcomes, and long-term value. We believe that for most Bellarmine students, staying and taking advantage of our College in the High School (CiHS) program is the stronger choice.

Bellarmine’s CiHS program allows students to earn real, transferable college credit (right here on campus, taught by Bellarmine’s own faculty) through partnerships with Central Washington University (CWU) and Eastern Washington University (EWU). Students can earn up to 5 quarter college credits per course, and the program is available beginning in 9th grade.

Courses noted with a “+” are offered through CWU; courses with “*” are offered through EWU. All college credit teachers are certified by their university partner. Course billing is handled through Bellarmine at $65 per credit hour, with financial assistance available.

 

Key: + = CWU credit   * = EWU credit   (n) = quarter credit hours

 
Side-by-Side Comparison: CiHS at Bellarmine vs. Running Start

 

Running Start is a respected program with genuine benefits, and for students without access to a rigorous private school like Bellarmine, it may be their best option. But Bellarmine families considering Running Start should understand the following realities.

 

Running Start students do not pay tuition, but they are responsible for college fees, textbooks, and transportation. These costs routinely total several hundred to over a thousand dollars per year. By contrast, Bellarmine’s CiHS courses are taught here on campus (eliminating transportation entirely), and financial assistance for the $65/credit fee is available through the school.

 

One of the most important facts for any family to understand is that Running Start automatically establishes a permanent college transcript. Every grade a student earns — including any D, F, or W (withdrawal) — follows them for the rest of their college career. The University of Washington’s admissions office warns prospective Running Start students directly: “Keep in mind that you have established a college record. Grades you earn now could affect admission to the UW and to your intended major.” Highline High School’s guidance echoes this: “Grades earned through Running Start begin a student’s transcript and college grade point average. This GPA will follow them throughout their college career.”

 

Families should also understand that this same principle applies to Bellarmine’s CiHS program. When a student registers for college credit through CWU or EWU, those grades similarly appear on a university transcript and are permanent. Unlike Running Start, however, a student who takes a CiHS course has the option at the time of enrollment to take it for high school credit only, without establishing a college transcript at all. Once a student has opted into college credit for a CiHS course, the grade stands. This is an important distinction that gives Bellarmine students and families more control at the point of enrollment than Running Start provides.

 

One of the most persistent misconceptions about Running Start is that students who enroll will graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree (AA). This is technically possible, but the data tell a sobering story.

 

According to the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, only 24% of Running Start students enrolled in 2021-22 earned an associate degree while in the program. Approximately 15% finish the AA within a year or two of graduating from high school. That means the large majority of students who enter Running Start with the goal of earning a free AA do not achieve it.

 

This outcome is not surprising when you consider what OSPI itself acknowledges in its official Running Start FAQ: “The pursuit of an associate degree is not the intent of the Running Start program. Running Start is intended to advance students toward completing a district’s high school graduation requirements.” In other words, the program was never designed to deliver an AA degree to high school students. Earning one requires extraordinary planning, a full schedule at the community college across four to six quarters, and the accumulation of around 90 quarter credits — a feat most 16- and 17-year-olds cannot realistically accomplish while also meeting Bellarmine-level high school graduation requirements.

 

Washington’s public universities have inter-institutional agreements that protect Running Start credits within the state system. However, families whose students are targeting private universities (Gonzaga, Seattle University, Loyola, Boston College, Georgetown, or out-of-state schools) may find that community college credits are not accepted, accepted only as electives, or subject to strict caps on lower-division credit.

 

As UW Tacoma’s transfer policy notes, a maximum of 90 lower-division quarter credits can be awarded toward a degree, and some programs impose seven-year time limits on upper-division transfer credits. Students who accumulate a very high number of Running Start credits may also find they cannot access first-year scholarships, since they enter as transfer applicants (not first-year applicants) at some institutions.

 

Yakima Valley College’s own Running Start guidance acknowledges: “In some majors, e.g. Engineering, it is not possible to meet all the departmental requirements and earn an A.A. degree in two years. In cases like these, it may be more advantageous to meet the departmental requirements rather than the A.A. degree requirements.” This is advice worth heeding well before a family commits to the program.

 

Bellarmine’s CiHS credits from CWU and EWU carry the same transferability to Washington’s public institutions as Running Start credits, without requiring students to leave campus or navigate a separate institutional bureaucracy.

 

College classes are fundamentally different from high school. Running Start students must independently manage their time, navigate institutional bureaucracy, seek out support when they struggle, and handle the logistics of attending a separate campus. Research and student accounts consistently highlight that many high school juniors and seniors are not developmentally ready for this level of independence.

 

OSPI’s own student story resource notes: “Running Start students need to take on a lot of responsibility for their schedule, transportation, homework, graduation requirements, and credits. Colleges expect the student to reach out first.” This is a significant shift from the structured, relationship-driven environment at Bellarmine. High school counselors also have limited involvement once a student is enrolled, leaving students to manage two institutional calendars, two sets of deadlines, and two separate bureaucracies largely on their own.

 

This may be the most underestimated cost of Running Start. Junior and senior year are among the most formative in a student’s secondary education. They are the years of leadership, deeper friendships, service, retreat experiences, athletic achievement, Fine Arts, and the full expression of the Bellarmine mission. Students who leave for Running Start after sophomore year miss the culmination of the Jesuit education their families chose.

 

They miss the senior retreat. They miss upper-level English, the research sequence, Advanced Placement courses taught by mentors who know them. They miss the letters of recommendation written by teachers who have watched them grow. And they miss the community (teammates, bandmates, club members, friends) that Bellarmine’s co-curricular life builds.

  

Bellarmine’s CiHS courses carry the same college-level academic standards as Running Start, but they are taught within the school’s support structure. Faculty who know your student, counselors who track their progress, and an institution that is invested in their success: these are not incidental features. They are essential scaffolding for 16- and 17-year-old learners.

 

Bellarmine’s CiHS offerings span English, History, Math, Science, World Language, Economics, Government, Psychology, Leadership, and Physical Education, allowing students to build a robust dual-credit transcript across multiple disciplines without ever leaving campus. The document you are reading references 15 to 20 college credits as a conservative estimate, but the full catalog reveals something far more substantial. Depending on course selections, an ambitious Bellarmine student can realistically accumulate between 35 and 60 transferable college quarter credits before graduation, all earned in the supportive, mission-driven environment of Bellarmine.

 

Bellarmine’s education is animated by cura personalis (care for the whole person). Junior and senior year are not simply about accumulating credits. They are about becoming the kind of person described in our mission: a person of intellectual competence, open to growth, committed to justice, religious in depth, and loving. Running Start offers college credits. Bellarmine offers formation.

 

Colleges consistently report that a student’s academic record is the most important part of an application. In NACAC’s survey of admission offices, grades in college prep courses and strength of curriculum rank among the top factors, and selective institutions place added weight on curriculum strength and letters of recommendation. Admissions readers evaluate rigor in the context of what a student’s school offers, and Bellarmine’s AP and College in the High School courses allow students to demonstrate college-level work within a curriculum their counselors can describe in detail. Roughly half of colleges also rate counselor and teacher recommendations as moderately or considerably important, and Bellarmine’s faculty and counselors will have known students for three or four years by the time they write them.

If your family is seriously considering Running Start, we encourage you to work through the following questions with your student and your Bellarmine counselor:

Choosing the right path for junior and senior year is one of the most important decisions your family will make during high school. At Bellarmine, we are committed to helping you navigate it thoughtfully.