That cost would upset me as well. It’s very expensive for no good reason. My D paid something like $10 for a transcript from the local junior college where she took a dual enrollment and a few concurrent enrollment courses. The courses themselves were very inexpensive at $44/hr.
Three different options here in WA state:
AP classes -no cost to take the class. Appx. $100 to take the test, paid by the student. You are not required to take the test.
“College in the high school”-class taught at the high school, with college/community college credit available for a fee. The fee varies depending on which college if granting the credit, usually $250-300. Sometimes AP and CITHS courses are the same course and kids get to decide if they want the credit, and which one they want. School arranged for books and materials as they do for regular high school classes,
Running start -dual enrollment at the local community college. Tuition paid by the state. Books and fees paid by the student. If you choose your classes carefully from the concordance tables you can graduate from high school with your AA degree.
Bottom line, if you want the credit for college level classes you’ll be paying for something.
Whether the teachers come to the HS or the kids go to the CC, somebody has to pay the teachers of DE classes. The huge majority of CC teachers are paid by the course / hour (even when they work full-time hours they are rarely “full-time” employees). States and regions vary considerably in how they organize the funding (ie, the funding formulas for secondary schools and third level institutions) for paying those teachers.
This is true for education as a whole!
@bgbg4us I am a HUGE fan of dual enrollment. Several have noted that some colleges won’t accept any or much dual enrollment, but that tends to be elite schools. Back when I was researching the issue I remember reading that many colleges that do accept dual enrollment credits will not accept them for college classes that are taught at the high school. Personally, I think this is a good policy. A class that has nothing but high school students really isn’t a college class.
For me, one of the big advantages of dual enrollment is that kids can take a college class while getting the benefit of advice from parents. Taking a class on campus in a college setting is just different from taking it in a high school classroom with a college teacher.
In Florida DE and AP are free. No charge for the AP test unless you DON’T take the exam.
Going back to the original question, what is the justification of the fees?
My senior is going to take a mv-calculus class that is taught in the high school by the high school teacher. The usual high school credit is free, but if we want it to count as dual enrollment we would have to pay a couple hundred dollars for some cooperating college to print a transcript. I’m not happy about the fee, even if one considers that one might potentially save money if the kid goes to a university that credits the class.
If tuition money were no object I rather have the kid use the experience to qualify into a more advanced class freshman year, like proof based analysis, but still take a full set of four years worth of courses at the university, instead of trying to shorten the education with dual enrollment and AP credits. I feel its better to aim at a high educational level and perhaps take graduate level classes senior year, than trying to do a rush job. Or do I miss-understand how students use dual credits?
EXCEPT that if you have a student living at college, and you are paying room and board too, and there is additional cost unless they have enough credits to finish a semester early. AND the university ‘granting’ the credits isn’t really doing anything to warrant all that money per credit.
That said, I have students who have reasons for wanting the extra credits when they get to college so I am ‘ok’ with it but I do think it is pretty pricey.
@nypapa Payment for these courses really depends on what laws a state legislature has put into place. College credits cost money. Some states have seen fit to cover these costs; others have not.
I will provide an example of how these credits are used. My son started college last year with something like 65 credits, 35 of which were from dual enrollment. He earned nine hours in ninth grade, 11 hours in summer school between his junior and senior year, and 15 hours his senior year. So he started school like all first-year students as a freshman, was a junior his second semester, and is a senior this year.
He is an accounting major and needs 150 hours to take the CPA exam, so he still has two years of school left. He has an accounting internship lined up for next summer that pays $25 an hour (plus overtime) that he only got because of his grade classification (90 percent of these interns are offered jobs). He managed to get an internship with a bank this summer making $13 an hour based on the fact that he was a rising senior. My son plans on earning a masters of accountancy, which I think if done right only takes one additional year. He has a free-tuition scholarship, but the cost of rent, board, books, and beer is killing me. So here are some numbers:
-$14,000: Approximate cost of tuition, books, parking pass, partial dining card for 35 dual enrollment credits at four-year college.
$ 60,000: Savings from shaving two years off educational experience
$ 9,000: Value of high-paid summer internships over jobs usually taken by freshmen and sophomores
$100,000: Estimated additional earnings by graduating two years early and taking a job
-$ 60,000: Estimated living expenses for the two years mentioned above
$169,000: Additional income and savings from dual enrollment and AP credits
-$ 74,000: Expenses associated with two years of dual enrollment and AP
$ 95,000: Approximate cash value of starting college with 65 college credits.
DE classes are free for us, as well as AP exams. DD’19 may have up to 24 college credits when she graduates. My goal is for her to knock out some GE’s in advance so that she is able to fit in a major and minor plus the electives she wants. If she graduates a semester early, great.
DE classes and AP classes are never free. If you go to private school you are paying tuition (and taxes) and public schools you are paying taxes. The difference is you are not cutting a check or whipping out a credit card. DE classes and AP classes aren’t always accepted anywhere. My daughter has a DE class for Medical Terms through the CC. Ironic story Northwestern accepts it U of I doesn’t. Though U of I and all state schools must accept AP’s for credit for scores 3 and over. Saying all that it is still a better deal than the costs of tuition.
This is true for us for DE classes through the local CC. In addition, our local CC is free to local students for 2 years after HS.
However, I paid about $280/unit for the classes S17 took at UCSB during high school. He would have had a lot of units if he’d decided to attend a UC. However, he decided to attend a college that gives absolutely no credit for APs or DE classes. His APs and DEs helped him gain admission to the college he’s attending, no doubt.
There is really no way to know in advance.
I did pay a lot for transcripts to be sent to colleges when he applied. The UC transcripts were $15 each and there were separate transcripts from them for summer classes and for school year classes. The CC transcripts were only about $3 each.