COEUR d'ALENE - If all goes according to plan, Taylor Canifax-Broesch will be teaching elementary school before she turns 21. Currently poised to receive her Associate of Science Degree as part of the North Idaho College Dual Credit Program, the 18-year old will also receive her diploma from Lake City High School a few short weeks later.

"Honestly, it's been amazing," Canifax-Broesch said. "I come from a family with a lot of medical disadvantages and I didn't have the opportunity to go to school every day because I was needed at home.

"NIC has let me design my own class schedule, which is a lot more maintainable. I can now choose classes I know I can get to, whereas in high school, it was six hours of attendance, no matter what. Before (the dual credit program), I had serious problems with absenteeism."

Available to students since 1997, but growing increasingly popular, dual credit is a partnership forged between NIC and local secondary schools to offer juniors and seniors access to NIC courses and degrees.

"I think the word is getting out," said program director Ginger Winckler. "Our courses are offered in a variety of ways: in-person on campus, via video, online or taught at the high school by a teacher who works with us here at NIC."

To be eligible, the potential applicant should have a minimum 3.0 GPA, have achieved junior year status, be at least 16 years old and have both parent and school counselor approval. Each dual credit student's high school counselor must approve all courses the student takes.

Currently, Winckler said, there are 650 dual credit students and 28 dual-graduation candidates.

Casey Rogstad, a Timberlake High School student, has been enrolled in the program for two years. He'll be graduating from NIC this month and continuing on to Whitworth University, where he'll enter as a junior. He plans on majoring in business and music.

"All but two of my classes were in the classroom at NIC," he said. "I thought it'd be a good advantage - a two-for-one deal - knock out two years of college before graduating high school. Actually, I found it a pretty easy transition from high school and I definitely liked my time at NIC better than my time in high school."

For Canifax-Broesch, her relationship with NIC has been such a strong one that she has chosen to walk at her NIC graduation and not at Lake City. "I haven't taken a single class at Lake City in the past two years," she said.

High school students are attracted to the financial incentive of paying $65 per credit at NIC instead of the standard post-secondary fee of $118 per credit. There are plans to increase some fees in 2014.

"I come from a low-income family," Canifax-Broesch said, "and when my family found out I could go to college for $65 a credit, they were just really excited - this was something they could afford to help me with."

Canifax-Broesch has been accepted as a junior at the University of Idaho and has already received several scholarships, including one from the Marine Corps Foundation.

Does she miss the traditional high school social experience?

"Not at all," she said. "I still have my friends and we hang out together every day. My best friend was extremely bullied in high school, so I convinced her to come to NIC. I think it's a more mature, relaxed environment here, so she doesn't have to worry about being mistreated."

According to dual credit specialist, Marcy Hoggatt, "What I like about the program is it teaches high school students how to be college students."

But, like many of life's choices, dual credit isn't for everyone. While there is an undeniable level of glamor and glitz in attending college while still in high school, many students are not interested in making the move ahead of schedule.

"I know there are a lot of high schoolers out there who are in the wrong mindset for college," Canifax-Broesch said. "When you're still worried about what the girl next to you is wearing and who's dating who, maybe you're not ready yet to start paying for your classes."

On Wednesday a celebratory breakfast was held at NIC for dual credit students graduating with both their associates degrees and their high school diplomas.