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 engagement and 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 engagement and 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 engagement and 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 engagement and 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 engagement and propels students towards success in college and beyond.
Manhattan, NY
Founded 2001
637 Students
Local Partner: New York City Department of Education
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Queens, NY
Founded 2008
653 Students
Local Partner: New York City Department of Education
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Newark, NJ
Founded 2011
408 Students
Local Partner: Newark Board of Education
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New Orleans, LA
Founded 2011
114 Students
Local Partner: Louisiana Department of Education
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Cleveland, OH
Founded 2014
445 Students
Local Partner: Cleveland Metropolitan School District
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Baltimore, MD
Founded 2015
413 Students
Local Partner: Baltimore City Public Schools
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Hudson Valley, NY
Founded 2017
25 Students
Local Partner: New York State BOCES
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Washington, D.C.
Founded 2019
266 Students
Local Partner: District of Columbia Public Schools
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Bronx, NY
Founded 2023
125 Students
Local Partner: New York City Department of Education
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Brooklyn, NY
Founded 2024
125 Students
Local Partner: New York City Department of Education
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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 3,300 students at nine degree-granting campuses and a growing number of partnership programs through which students can complete up to one year of college.
First-generation
college students
Students eligible
for Pell Grants
Bard Early Colleges
across 5 states
Six-year BA degree
graduation rate
AA degrees awarded
since 2003
Associate’s degree
attainment rate
High school graduation rate with
at least one year of college credit
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.
– Kimbrielle Boult New Orleans ‘20