The Early College High School Program—previously available only at LBJ and Reagan high schools—expanded to Travis High School this year.

The program is a partnership between Austin ISD and Austin Community College and allows students to earn up to 60 hours of college credit for free, with the opportunity to earn an associate degree.

“This program not only saves students and their families money when they earn college credit for free, but it will also allow these students to complete their bachelor's degree early,” said Travis High School Principal Ty Davidson.

Travis is the first of the district's high schools south of the river to offer the program. The first ECHS partnership between AISD and ACC launched in fall 2011 at LBJ and Reagan, and 13 students from the two schools were the first to graduate from the program in May with their associate degrees. 

“I'm proud of the Travis High School community for all the hard work they put in day after day to accomplish this,” said Superintendent Paul Cruz.

In addition to those 13 associate degrees, since the program’s inception, students have earned a total of 7,451 college credits.

“We're glad to offer this program to more students and hope that many of them will take advantage of this free opportunity,” said Edmund Oropez, chief officer for teaching and learning.

Travis High School met all state standards and achieved six of seven academic distinctions this year.