Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez, City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) Chancellor Juan Salgado, DeVry University President and CEO Elise Awwad, school administrators and families came together to recognize more than 800 Class of 2024 scholars from 79 CPS high schools who are graduating with a high school diploma, plus 15 or more transferable college credits. Among the Class of 2024 seniors are 144 graduates who earned their associate degree, more than any previous class in CPS history.  Approximately 5,900 CPS Class of 2024 graduates will save an estimated $8 million in total college tuition costs through the District’s early college partnerships, primarily with the City Colleges of Chicago where students earned more than 49,000 credits, but also with DeVry University, Chicago State University, Illinois Tech, Loyola University, Northeastern Illinois University, National Louis University, University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois Chicago. The graduates at the ceremony received a ceremonial blue cord for earning 15 or more college credits during their junior and senior years, the equivalent of one semester in college. Another 216 students earned a gold cord for achieving 30 credits or more. The 144 graduating seniors who earned an associate degree in addition to their high school diploma received a plaque commemorating their achievement, 94 of them wore the platinum cords from their CCC college graduation ceremony earlier this month. Across all early college partners, Latinx and Black students represented up to 80 percent of all early college credit achievement, with their strongest presence among the associate degree earners.