Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School has teamed up with Lowell-based Middlesex Community College in a bid to earn state approval for an early college program at the Oak Bluffs campus.

Nearly three dozen Island students currently are taking a college-level English class at the high school and another nine students are in a mathematics course, earning academic credits at both MVRHS and the community college, administrator Sam Hart told the Gazette.

Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable is already part of the high school’s dual enrollment program, which allows Island students to earn up to 12 college credits for certain courses they take at the high school. Up through this year, participation in the college-level classes has been by individual demand, Mr. Hart said.

“I like to call it ‘random acts of dual enrollment,’” he said.

The new arrangement with Middlesex Community College, which Mr. Hart said is in the pilot stage at present, aims to both expand the high school’s dual-enrollment opportunities and clear the way for potential state approval of an early college program.

The two systems differ significantly. Dual enrollment credits — similarly to Advanced Placement courses — may or may not be accepted by a student’s chosen college, or may only be considered electives, Mr. Hart said.

Early college credits, in contrast, translate directly into tuition savings at state schools by allowing high school students to complete required classes in advance, Mr. Hart said.

“There’s a financial benefit immediately for the students,” he said.

The early college courses also help build students’ skills and confidence as they consider their post-secondary options, Mr. Hart said.

“We want to give our students the greatest opportunity possible to succeed,” he said.

The goal, Mr. Hart said, is to ease the transition — and accompanying financial burden — from high school to higher education, particularly for Islanders who may be the first in their family to attend college.

Early college credits don’t expire, he added, so graduating high school students can use them whenever they enroll in a state school.

The high school is halfway through the process of applying for early college approval from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, with a decision expected in May, Mr. Hart said.

If the state grants its approval, he said, selected MVRHS teachers will become stipended adjunct professors for Middlesex Community College, which will oversee their curricula for core classes such as English composition and statistics beginning in the fall of 2025. Cape Cod Community College had wanted its own professors to teach Island students at its Barnstable campus, he said.

“To be fair to Cape Cod, that’s how the model should work, but that’s just not realistic for the Vineyard,” Mr. Hart said.

Cape high school students can take classes at the college and then return to their campuses, but that’s impracticable for Vineyarders, he said.

“We have our limitations as an Island,” Mr. Hart said.

Nonetheless, he said, Cape Cod Community College continues to offer night courses, including one in aviation, at MVRHS.

“We really value our partnership with Cape Cod,” Mr. Hart said.