If you aren't sure what a postgraduate program is, often called a PG or prep, let us help you understand. First, the difference between a traditional PG's and a club program. Both are only going to operate for a semester or term. In most cases, traditional programs are typically used at private boarding schools or military academies and are mainly located on the East Coast. Many of you have never heard of schools like Phillip Exter and Avon Farms, which offer post-graduate terms. Then there is Bridgeton Academy, the oldest postgraduate school in America, which provides a full-year academic and athletic preparation.
Bridgeton Academy was founded in 1808, and Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina was founded in 1904 and was the first minority-operated boarding school in the country. and it was a high school that offered a post-graduate term. So, the theory of the PG program has been around for some time. There are many PG programs today, but most are basketball-centered, not even fielding a PG football team. PG student-athletes competing in football attending any of these schools would compete on the high school varsity team. Hence, the term reclassify. Only a few programs offered football as a PG sport.
In 2009, when VAM opened as Hampton Roads Collegiate Prep, there were only two other programs, North Carolina Tech and Grey Academy, now Palmetto Prep. Today, there are a lot of operations posing as post-graduate programs, but they are more or less than club programs.
Next, Academics and Cost if the program directs the student-athlete to attend a college on-campus or online! this isn't a traditional PG program. A traditional PG will offer course recovery of one or two NCAA-approved courses, ACT and SAT prep, or some combination of both. Some may offer college courses through CLAP. Lastly, attending the program can range from $50,000.00 to as low as $3,000.00, but remember, you get what you pay for!
There are a few stand-out post-graduate athletic (football-based) programs other than VAM. There is Milford Academy in upstate New York, Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, Palmetto Prep in Columbia and Myrtle Beach Prep in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, East Coast Prep in Barrington, Massachusetts, Jireh Prep in Indian Trail, North Carolina, and recently IMG in Florida has added a PG football program.
