The Collegian

Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: News

Marissa Philipp, Dean of Women Diane Philipp's daughter and a senior at Hillsdale Academy, takes notes during a U.S. Constitution class at Hillsdale College. She has already completed two other classes at the college.

They would blend in completely, if not for the occasional plaid skirt or last name shared with a professor. Academy students and children of faculty can take classes at the college without paying tuition, as can Hillsdale High School students, who come on a special scholarship.

Seventeen high school students are taking classes at Hillsdale College for dual credit this semester - nine from Hillsdale Academy, five from Hillsdale High School, one from Reading High, and two home-schooled.

"The more classes I take here, the more I want to come here," Marissa Philipp, a senior at the Academy, said. She's in the middle of making her college decision; Hillsdale and Boston University are at the top of her list.

Philipp has attended the Academy since kindergarten and previously felt hesitant about sticking around another four years. But taking Hillsdale classes changed her mind.

"I could not deny all the opportunities that are here," she said.

Philipp has Western and American Heritage under her belt, and currently is in U.S. Constitution.

"I don't think I've ever heard of a [high school] student who's taken a class here and not liked it and appreciated it," she said.

High school students must get permission from their school to take classes at the college, as well as be accepted as non-degree-seeking students by the admissions office. If they are from schools other than the Academy, the high school pays a third of the tuition, their parents a third, and the college a third.

The Bernard L. Davis Scholarship covers the parents' portion of tuition for students from Hillsdale high school, said Rich Moeggenberg, director of financial aid. Recipients must also demonstrate merit in character and academics.

College freshman Katelyn Martin was one such recipient. Now a freshman at the college, Martin took two Spanish classes and an introductory science class as a senior at Hillsdale High School. She said the classes were the deciding factor in her decision to come to the college, as well as the students.

"They were all really friendly, and that's another thing, you don't really expect that," she said.

But she said there's a difference between taking classes part-time in high school and attending as a freshman.

"It's obviously a lot harder when you're taking a full schedule," she said.

And the difference extends to the entire experience.

"It feels a lot different. When I was taking classes here [in high school], it still felt like the town Hillsdale. And now, it feels like the college."

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