It is really nothing to get excited about, every semester there are at least hundreds of students from every local school system who decide that high school no long holds anything for them. Post Secondary Enrollment Option Program, salvation for those kids who prove themselves. PSEOP is offered in at least Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, other states might participate but it seems to be less common.
What is this program? Well, most schools open enrollment up to upperclassman high school students (juniors and seniors); though some let sophomores take a limited amount of credits. This program is open to any student and usually provides free tuition and books (as paid for by the state), and trust me, it is easy to get spoiled by the free stuff. At most schools all you need is a GPA of 2.5, though some require a 3.0.
What happens is that the student takes classes at the college of their choice and those classes have to fit in the "high school curriculum" (i.e., you need to fulfill the high school's core requirements like English, math, science, history, an art etc.) but at any level that fits. So for a math requirement the student could take calculus four if he or she tests into it.
The benefits are that not only do the credits count toward completion of a high school diploma (painlessly) but they count as legitimate college credit as well. These college credits are transferable to any accredited school. Another benefit is that it's totally FREE. That's wonderful news for anyone who needs more money for school. A student can complete up to two full years of college without paying a dime of tuition or books. The "down side" is that you may or may not go to prom. Most students who are enrolled in a high school are required to be there for a least a few hours a day, and so may still have friends there, and may still choose to participate in "high school activities". As someone who was never enrolled into a public high school, I really didn’t miss any of these social activities. I viewed them as a waste of academic time, and instead joined the student government at my community college to help support the recycling program that made money for burn victims and raised money for the United Way. I didn’t have to go to Pep Rallies.
The best part about going to a community college instead of high school is that the teachers there don’t baby you. If you don’t turn in your homework, they don’t care, it's one less thing to grade; instead they just fail you out of their class. The teachers don’t care if you get up and leave in the middle of their class (typically), they just count you as absent, AND YOU DON’T NEED A HALL PASS. Personally I didn’t need to be babied, and so instead of wasting my time in high school I never went. That doesn’t make me smarter than anyone else, or more special, just makes me resourceful.