Our school offers concurrent credit for some classes through a partnership with a couple of local 4-year state universities. It mentions that the universities are accredited by the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships. Our materials also state that if you plan on attending college other than the two choices, to check with the respective colleges.
Our kids get credit for $50 per course. With the exception of foreign language classes, the courses are all AP classes as well. Their purpose is to help high-achieving low-income kids (who may do well in class but not test well in an AP exam) get through one of the local colleges with as little debt as possible, perhaps even with an associate’s degree upon HS completion. I definitely wouldn’t pay $325 to get college credit for an algebra/trig course for a student who intends to pursue a four-year degree out of state. The other two are more questionable.
One thing to note - if this teacher isn’t all that great, there is the potential for up to two problems. (1) he may not be getting a class rigorous enough to prepare him for the next level in college and/or (2) he may end up with a grade he doesn’t want on his transcript. Personally, I wouldn’t pay $325 per course for something that may not benefit him if he doesn’t attend that college.
S2’s HS does “College in the Classroom.” We would not have paid for college level Algebra or Trig as all our kids have majors that require college Calculus as part of the major. We did pay for the ones that will be college credits but not within the major, figuring that major courses rely on knowledge from the college’s prior coursework. We paid for Sustainable Design, Ethics, Comp Sci 101, Anatomy, a couple others. S2 will have between 10 and 40 credits depending on which college he chooses. We consider it a low-cost gamble that pays 10:1 if he ends up with the credits.
Nobody is required to pay for these courses. Yes, they’re requirements for graduation, but the only students paying the extra $325 are the ones who want the college credit.
These are the 3 courses and their listing numbers from the St John’s catalog. They’re each worth 3 credits
MTH 1050 - Spring College Algebra & Trig (Math 11 students only)
ENG 2210- Spring Intro to British Literature
HIS 1301 - Spring U.S. from Colonial Times to the Civil War
As for taking APUSH instead of paying $325, S will have to wait until end of senior year for that, since his HS does US history over 2 years, 11th and 12th grade.
Worth repeating, from @InigoMontoya :
“People are losing the point of the initial post. It’s not whether dual enrollment or AP is worthwhile. In most cases dual enrollment/IB/AP is very worthwhile. It’s whether taking a course at a high school taught by a high school teacher that then gets an accompanying “letter grade” from a university is worthwhile at a cost of $325/course.”
You really have to vet what might be offered by different hs districts. There are a number of good programs where the college has a foot in local hs, the hs teachers are trained to the college’s expectations, a college approved syllabus. Or some where the hs is located on or near the college campus and some teachers have roles at both.
But just to take what seems to be a more hs level class for the “college credit” misses the point in the rigor and, in some cases, the variety of what can be done via true DE.
It really depends on your child whether the investment is worthwhile.
Our HS offers quite a few courses along the same line. Students take a regular high school class and get regular grades, but at the end of the year they also get college grade and college credit. Most are through our local community college and there is not cost so the credits are automatic.
However, there are a few courses where we have to pay extra. There are some where you have to pay or you are not allowed in the course, and a few others where you can still take the course but if you don’t pay you won’t get the credit, just like you describe.
So the question is, can you foresee your child using the credits? For example, if it is a low level college math class and your child will be taking AP Calc senior year the math credit is useless. However it is possible that the history and lit courses will be useful as distribution requirements.
For S1 I was required to pay twice because he wanted to take the classes. He also had a ton of free credits. He goes to a school that does not accept credits of any kind so he could not use them.
For S2 I paid for 2 classes: One that he wanted to take, and another that I decided might be worth paying for. His college accepted the first class but as an elective so it is basically worthless. They didn’t accept the one I opted to pay for, but he did get credit for a few that were free.
That being said they both have numerous friends that received an entire year or more of credits at their colleges-it really depends on college selection.
^^^We are also in NY and the SUNY schools and the regional privates will give credit for virtually anything.
True, but it really depends on the objective. Parents here are thrilled that their kids are receiving legitimate, transferrable college credits. They don’t care that they are just high school classes. And our school district loves to brag about how many credits a student can graduate with.