My student is in 8th grade and looking at dual credit courses for high school. The dual credit courses are approved by the HS, and the students can earn an AA in liberal arts simultaneously. It is not through the local CA community college but via a private accredited college with reduced tuition for the HS students. About half the grade level will take this approach.
For UC/CSU: is it possible that the courses won’t transfer for credit? Since the courses aren’t via a CA CC, could this lead to frustration and no saved “time” later on? We have the informational meeting in a few weeks, so I do plan to ask. However, in the past few years (small private school), no one applied/accepted/enrolled into a UC. Graduating seniors chose out of state schools or private LACs for higher education. But we want to keep all options open.
Yes, it is possible that the courses may not be UC/CSU transferable for credit.
Usually if they are not taken a California Community college, it will be up to each individual UC/CSU campus to determine transferability.
Assist.org lists UC/CSU transferable courses for the California CC’s and Transferology dot com may have a list of Transferable courses.
Definitely ask but also remember that if they are UC/CSU transferable and if they are taken in the 10-11th grades, the course grades will be included in the UC/CSU GPA calculations and any College courses will become part of the student’s permanent College Transcript.
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/preparing-transfer-students/transfer-credit-practice.html
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It is also possible that a course may transfer for credit units, but not subject credit if it does not match well enough to a course at the receiving college.
Note also that most UCs are on the quarter system, so year long sequences (e.g. calculus) are divided differently from semester system schools, so the courses may be misaligned for that reason (may need to take a full year sequence to ensure full subject credit).
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Just remember that what your high school does and accepts, does not necessarily mean that that will transmit to any college system.
The colleges can do whatever they want, and accept whatever credits meet their minimum standards. If you want to pay extra money to take these courses, then that’s on you, but there are no guarantees that they will be accepted by your child’s future colleges.
Follow up: if kiddo does complete the HS diploma and AA degree simultaneously, are college applications still for first year freshmen? In general, or is this also dependent on the college for which the student is applying?
If the college classes were all taken prior to high school gradation, then the student is generally considered a freshman and not a transfer for purposes of admissions. Always best to double check with the college, but most often it is still considered freshman admissions.
Generally, colleges allow frosh applications from those who completed college courses before leaving high school. But each college can have its own rules (and many do not clearly state the frosh versus transfer rules on their web sites).