Our model is premised on the belief that many adolescents are ready and eager to start college at an earlier age. Empowering them to do so during the last two years of high school in a supportive environment inspires love of learning and civic and intellectual engagementand propels students towards success in college and beyond.
Our model is premised on the belief that many adolescents are ready and eager to start college at an earlier age. Empowering them to do so during the last two years of high school in a supportive environment inspires love of learning and civic and intellectual engagementand propels students towards success in college and beyond.
Our model is premised on the belief that many adolescents are ready and eager to start college at an earlier age. Empowering them to do so during the last two years of high school in a supportive environment inspires love of learning and civic and intellectual engagementand propels students towards success in college and beyond.
Founded 2001
637 Students
Local Partner: New York City Department of Education Visit Website
Queens, NY
Founded 2008
653 Students
Local Partner: New York City Department of Education Visit Website
Newark, NJ
Founded 2011
408 Students
Local Partner: Newark Board of Education Visit Website
New Orleans, LA
Founded 2011
114 Students
Local Partner: Louisiana Department of Education Visit Website
Cleveland, OH
Founded 2014
445 Students
Local Partner: Cleveland Metropolitan School District Visit Website
Baltimore, MD
Founded 2015
413 Students
Local Partner: Baltimore City Public Schools Visit Website
Hudson Valley, NY
Founded 2017
25 Students
Local Partner: New York State BOCES Visit Website
Washington, D.C.
Founded 2019
266 Students
Local Partner: District of Columbia Public Schools Visit Website
Our Network
Bard Early College is a multi-campus network of Bard College established to provide adolescents in American public school systems with the chance to go farther and faster than the status quo allows.Bard Early College serves approximately 3,000 students at seven degree-granting campuses and a growing number of partnership programs through which students can complete up to one year of college.
Our Impact
50%
First-generation
college students
73%
Students eligible
for Pell Grants
8
Bard Early Colleges
across 5 states
79%
Six-year BA degree
graduation rate
3,945
AA degrees awarded
since 2003
73%
Associate’s degree
attainment rate
97%
High school graduation rate with
at least one year of college credit
3,153
Total
enrollment
My class with Bruce Matthews taught me to be skeptical of the world,…to be aware and mindful of things, and don’t just take things at face value. Don’t take assumptions and stereotypes and just hold them to your heart when there’s so much more. I think that goes for all of my other classes I’ve had. At Bard, I’ve learned how to critically think and to think deeply about things.
– Jennora Blair, Manhattan ‘20
Bard has prepared me. I feel like I’m not even going to college, I’m just continuing.
– Bryce Taylor, Baltimore ‘20
At Bard, you have a sense of independence…and I wouldn’t have had that discipline nor that sense of responsibility had I not been at Bard.
