CONNEAUT, Ohio — They saw it happen to too many people they know: crippling college debt. And they worked to make sure it didn't happen to them.
Hamilton Spero, of Conneaut, and Ari Bernat, of Aurora, both took advantage of Ohio's College Credit Plus program — known as CCP — which allows high school students to take college courses online or in person and earn credit toward a degree.
Over the last 10 years, the number of high schoolers participating in CCP nearly doubled to 94,708 across the state. In 2025, 958 high schoolers earned their associate degree through the program.
Spero learned about CCP when he entered high school. He started slowly, taking one course his sophomore year before ramping up.
"I was a little leery about taking college classes as a freshman. My sophomore year I took one and my junior and senior year I was basically full time at Kent," Spero said. "You're going to school anyways, why don't you just make it a little bit harder?"
By graduation, he had accumulated enough credits to earn an associate degree from Kent State Ashtabula alongside his Conneaut High School diploma. He will now take those credits to the University of Cincinnati as he works toward running his own funeral home.
"It makes a large difference especially money-savings wise because the school pays for the CCP classes so I save a ton of money," Spero said. "Going into the mortuary science school, you have to have an associate degree before you can attend there, so it cuts out the part of me going to another college for two years and pay for that and then go to mortuary school afterwards."
No — this is not the same as AP courses. And yes — it is free.
Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Mike Duffey said CCP courses are distinct from Advanced Placement classes.
"We have a law in Ohio, where if you get a three or higher on the AP test, you earn college credit but it is fundamentally a high school course," Duffey said. "It's a very difficult high school course. It's Advanced Placement and many students earn college credit but it is not actually a college course, which College Credit Plus courses actually are."
The grades earned in CCP courses count — no matter what — just as they would in any college class.
"It's an exceptionally affordable way, because it's free to families to try a college course out," Duffey said. "You don't have to be a gifted student in order to take college classes. If you're ready to take the class, you're ready to take the class."
But it's not just associate degrees high schoolers are obtaining — it's bachelor's degrees too
A statewide report shows only three students in 2025 did what Ari Bernat did this year — earning a bachelor's degree while still in high school.
Bernat started taking CCP courses in eighth grade.
"I had no intention of going down this path," Bernat said. "I just intended to take this to replace a lot of my AP classes. But I kept going. I found out I can take as many classes as I want."
By his sophomore year, he was fully committed — taking college courses online or at Kent State while still attending Aurora High School for gym class to remain eligible for sports.
"I would get to football at 2:30 [p.m.], go home around six and done with everything around seven," Bernat said.
He also found the coursework less overwhelming than AP classes.
"For me CCP [is] always less stressful," Bernat said. "There's no big exam or anything like that. Go to class. The class counts no matter what."
Bernat is now headed to the University of Akron this fall to pursue an MBA and law degree — and he expects to finish that, too, without debt.
"I have a scholarship there and my work has a tuition reimbursement program," Bernat said. "I'll have no debt coming out of law school and will be able to go into my future without ever having to worry about that."
Now, as both students head off to college, they're encouraging others to explore the program.
"I saved a ton of money," Spero said.
"Having the opportunity to go to college for free, I felt, was a better use of my time than going to high school," Bernat said.
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
