Cabarrus Kannapolis Early College is an innovative high school located on the south campus of Rowan Cabarrus Community College (RCCC). We began in 2009 and graduated our first class in 2013. Our enrollment has grown from 49 in 2009 to almost 240 in 2020. Our enrollment will not exceed 264 students.  We enroll 66 new freshmen each year.  Nationwide, there are over 200 early colleges. 

The aim of the Early College model is to graduate students who earn a high school diploma as well as two years of transferable college credit or an associate degree all at no cost to their families. The target population for early colleges is first generation college-goers, those seeking a challenging, more rigorous curriculum, or other historically underserved populations.