What would you work on first?

[jch]

College is not for everyone. But, if they want to at least TRY to go to college, I would say that ONU and ASU classes would be the way to go! Very low or no buy-in costs. They can discover if college/university is right for them and maybe get some credits that they can, at least, use towards a BOG degree. Some people do terrible in HS and then thrive in college/university. The only way to know for certain is to actually try.

My kids both struggle with the self-paced courses, so I might try something that isn't self-paced (so ASU courses that are not self-paced).  But ASU is a bit pricy for me, not sure if this student has someone helping to pay for his courses?  If not, I might try something cheaper.

I definitely wouldn't suggest taking all classes at ASU. But 1 or 2 classes for $25 buy-in each? That'd be a relatively inexpensive way to figure out if college is right for you. Some kids do poorly in HS because of the social pressure and other factors that are external to the actual learning experience. Then they get to college and these things are gone, so they do much better.

This was me. Despite having strong study skills, high school went very poorly for me. Even though they put in tremendous efforts, the staff could not find a learning system that worked for my disabilities, health problems, and learning characteristics. Social pressures and the endless boring classes also got to me. In the end, I was pushed out the door with passes recorded for the minimum necessary credits.

While relieved to done with high school, I also felt that my higher education opportunities were gone. I had banked on leveraging my academic abilities to earn lots of AP credits and jump to a more academically interesting college experience. How would I ever get in to MIT with my high school transcript? I looked into the local technical college a few times, but felt that their offerings weren't really for me. For several years, I lacked any real motivation or future path.

Then covid emerged in 2020. Although my aversion to education was strong, my desire to capitalize on a deal was stronger. When I heard about the discounts at ASU and Sophia, I jumped on them. Even though I was very unsure of my academic potential, $0 to start and zero risk was too good of an offer to refuse. Quickly, I surprised myself at how much I could actually accomplish. ASU EA/ULC and Sophia seemed like perfect fits for me. In the span of eight months, I knocked out 100 credits.

Once I actually gave college a try and found the right system, I excelled. I found that college is an entirely different world than what I experienced in high school. There are numerous instructors and delivery options to choose from in most subjects. Even though some subjects are boring, I know that they'll be done in just a few weeks. When there's a topic I already know, I can go straight to an exam or breeze through a self-paced course instead of laboring through a long class. I wish that someone had told me about all of this a long time ago!

I completely agree with Rachel, the only way to know what works is to TRY. Many of the available options are cheap to start with. I'd strongly advise anyone looking for direction to just start experimenting. Look at ASU ULC, modern states CLEP, Sophia, etc. Find what works, then build a degree plan around that. If these courses don't go well, then they can simply be dropped without significant costs or consequences.