I work at a community college and my soon-to-be sophomore son just finished his first class this summer. He took US history in lieu of going the AP route at our LPS. FWIW, my town is the only district in our area that does NOT participate in our strong DE program so my DS will be taking the same material he learned this summer again this year. That’s a whole other issue that I’m hoping they change but I’m still a proponent of him taking classes that provide him with college credit.
He plans to major in engineering and my hope is that he’ll be able to complete his general electives to satisfy requirements at a technical school like WPI. This would then allow him to pursue a minor but still spend the four years there. I’m a big fan of dual enrollment if the courses are selected well. He’s not aiming at ultra selective colleges where they won’t accept any DE or classes taken at other colleges.
I’m also a big fan of dual enrollment (DE) and my daughter is finishing her final year at one of our State’s large Public 4-year University. She completed about 48 dual enrollment credits during her Junior and Senior year of high school and all those credits transferred to the 4-year U. Additionally, she end up transferring 12 credits from the 4-year institution back to the community college and got her AA degree. She did two summer sessions at her 4-year University and she will complete your undergraduate degree in two years (4-semesters, plus 2-summer sessions). She completed 9 credits/summer term and one of those summer terms were done totally online.
Her high school dual enrollment classes were paid for fully (Tuition/Fees and books; books were returned at end of each semester) by her school district and she will be graduating with minimal debt (<$8K). Her plan is to apply to law school her final year or after working for a year post graduation. Through DE, she was able to cut her total college cost in half and complete her undergraduate degree at age 20!
Just a FYI; a lot of high schools (and Community Colleges) are adept at concealing whether DE courses was taken on a high school campus and/or satisfy high school graduation requirements.
It is always so interesting to me to see how various districts handle things. I have 3 kids. 2 went to a private high school that offered DE on the HS campus for the bargain price of $150 per credit.
My daughter goes to a public school. DE would require a slew of paperwork, approval of GC after receiving 2 teachers recs, the student to provide transportation and pay full price at the Community College which is a 35 minute drive.
College cost could be cut significantly without DE, by applying to schools that would offer a full tuition (or higher) Merit awards. For some career path, taking some college classes in a summer is not a good idea. So, be careful! I read above about graduating at 20, but if you attend college for regular 4 years, you would be 21. Mine was 21 and she attended a 4 year college on full tuition Merit award. She had lots of credits, one DE and some APs, but she was in a program that did not allow to graduate earlier (she had a choice of accelerated program, but turn it down). Instead, she did not “hurry up” at all, but added couple minors to her major and had a ball at college, travel abroad, many other ECs. She did not take a single summer class, her scholarships did not pay for summer classes. Having relaxing summers with her friends was great! Something to remember, when you are working those 80 hours weeks in a hospital!