South Carolina students build an Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) from 8th grade through 12th grade under the Education and Economic Development Act. Each year, students review their career cluster and, in high school, their major, set postsecondary goals and plan their courses in a conference with their counselor and a parent or guardian.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

An IGP conference is one of the most important planning moments a student has, and counselors run a lot of them. When a student arrives without having explored the clusters, the choice can feel arbitrary, and families leave without a clear picture of what the path leads to.

What students tell us

Across the 13th Year™ network, students are most open early, and their options narrow as graduation gets closer:

  • 32%of 9th graders are weighing more than one path after high school. By 12th grade, 16% are.
  • 53%of 9th graders are interested in more than one career field, compared with 33% of seniors.
  • 11%of 9th graders say they are not sure yet what comes next. Only 2% of seniors say so.
  • 23%of students planning on college are also considering another path, such as the skilled trades, the military, work or a business of their own.

For planning, that means the most valuable exploration happens in the first years of high school, while students are still open to what they find.

Figures come from more than 3,800 responses students submitted at 13th Year™ kiosks and school links across the 13th Year™ network in 2026, not only South Carolina schools. Students could choose more than one answer, and some responded more than once.

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in South Carolina

South Carolina sets dual enrollment expectations through a statewide policy of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, which says dual enrollment should be limited to high school juniors and seniors, with documented exceptions for freshmen or sophomores based on ability. All 16 colleges in the South Carolina Technical College System offer dual enrollment. Under Technical College System procedure, each college must allocate at least five percent of its SC WINS scholarship allocation to eligible dual enrollment students.

Students who explore career fields before junior year can choose dual enrollment courses that line up with a technical or degree pathway, and regular exploration (for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk) supports those choices.

Official program information: South Carolina Commission on Higher Education; South Carolina Technical College System (State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education) →

What students need before the planning meeting

The most productive planning conversations happen when a student walks in with something to talk about: a career they read about, a program that surprised them, a question about the military or an apprenticeship. That kind of curiosity comes from exposure, and exposure works best when it is frequent, self-directed and part of the school day.

Practical ways to build exploration into the year

  • Explore clusters before choosing one. Give students time to see the careers, programs and employers behind each cluster before the conference, not during it.
  • Show where each major leads. Help students connect their major to real colleges, technical programs, apprenticeships, military paths and jobs.
  • Prepare families too. Students who share what they have explored make the conversation with their parent or guardian far more productive.
  • Make exploration self-serve. Let students explore on their own time, so conference time goes to decisions instead of introductions.

Where the Student Pathway System™ goes

13th Year™ places an interactive college and career kiosk in your hallway, a modern guidance resource students use before, during and after school. Students explore the colleges, trades, military paths and careers behind each cluster throughout the year, so they come to IGP conferences with interests they have already explored. It supports, and does not replace, your IGP process and school counselors.

For administrators, the questions are usually privacy and workload. The 13th Year™ platform is FERPA aligned and designed with student privacy considerations in mind. It does not access the high school's student information system, and no student data is sold. Kiosks come at no cost to the school, and 13th Year™ delivers, installs and supports every kiosk, so it is built to support your counselors, not burden them.

See how 13th Year™ supports South Carolina high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.