Tell City students earn college credit, save Perry County families money

Tell City-Troy Township School Corp is turning early college credits into a household savings story for Perry County families, with students on track to finish high school already holding more than 30 hours of college credit at no cost.

The district highlighted the students in an April 25 post tied to Early College Week, saying the credits will transfer to other Indiana colleges after graduation. The Indiana College Core, created in 2012, is a 30-credit-hour block of general education coursework that moves with students to Indiana public colleges and universities, and to some private institutions as well.

For Tell City families, that can mean one less year of tuition, fees and living costs to cover. State materials say the Core can equal about a year of college for $750 or less, and guidance says students who complete it at one Indiana public institution should not have to repeat those requirements if they transfer to another public campus. The Core does not replace major-specific degree requirements, but it can clear a sizable chunk of the path before students ever set foot on a college campus.

That matters in Perry County, where families often weigh affordability, travel and the payoff of postsecondary training before choosing nursing, teaching, technical programs, business or other careers that require credentials beyond high school. For students who know they are headed toward college or a credentialed job, the Core can shorten the route to a degree and reduce the amount borrowed before the first full-time paycheck.

The state has pushed the program hard as a way to widen access. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education said the Core was offered at 312 high schools for the 2025-26 school year, up from 84 high schools four years earlier. Commission materials also say nearly 2,400 students earned the Core in 2022, and 92% went on to attend college.

The commission has also said students who earn the Core are likely to keep going once they get there. One fact sheet says about 94% of Core earners attended college and 70% met benchmarks for early college success. At Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School, the April 25 celebration put that policy in local terms: students are not just stacking credits, they are building a faster, cheaper bridge to college and the workforce for Perry County.