Are you trying to decide between CLEP or dual enrollment? It’s a huge decision and highly stressful for most parents. It all comes down to 3 basic questions. Continue reading “Push the Button!”
Homeschooling for College Credit
Your guide to resourceful high school planning
Are you trying to decide between CLEP or dual enrollment? It’s a huge decision and highly stressful for most parents. It all comes down to 3 basic questions. Continue reading “Push the Button!”
If you’re using dual enrollment in high school, you’re probably faced with the problem of figuring out how many college credits vs high school credits your teen can balance and still pull good grades. This is no small problem because college classes leave a paper trail! In short- it’s part of their permanent record. Continue reading “Are 4 college classes too many?”
I recently asked the parents on Homeschooling for College Credit’s Facebook page to share their experiences with dual enrollment, and any advice they might have for parents considering it for their teens.
Dual enrollment is enrolling in a college credit course, usually through a college, and counting it also as a high school course. Popular dual enrollment courses include English 101, College Algebra, United States History, and others.
“My son is taking all his classes for 12th grade at the community college, he will be graduating in May with both his high school diploma from our homeschool and associates degree from our local community college”
-Jayne L., North Carolina homeschooling parent.
Updated for 2019
The topic of today’s post is targeted toward our North Carolina families, but the takeaway isn’t that you should relocate to North Carolina, it’s that in almost every state there are some strategies you can build around the resources you have available to you. I know many non-NC adults who “hacked” their education and earned AA or BA degrees for pennies on the dollar (I’m on that list!) For the motivated, there are a lot of ways to save money, but this post is my deconstruction and then reconstruction of the resources in NC, assembled in a way that maxes out the benefits available to parents. Continue reading “$2000 Bachelor’s Degrees in NC”
Like homeschooling, there is no “one policy” for our entire country – A family in North Carolina enjoys free dual enrollment, while their friends in South Carolina pay a hefty fee- so if your state doesn’t provide an affordable option for your teen and you want them to take college courses in high school, you may want to look outside your state.
Many colleges offer “distance learning” dual enrollment opportunities to any teen- you don’t have to live in that state! (The schools on this all do) In addition, you’ll want to be sure to use wisdom about choosing courses that will transfer into your teen’s future target college. The #1 criteria colleges use for transfer credit is Regional Accreditation -every college on this list is Regionally Accredited, which is to say they meet the minimum standard. There is no “higher” accreditation than regional, but a college ultimately decides for itself whether or not to accept transfer credit. If you’d like to dive deeper into transfer credit, this transfer guide will help.
Also, schools review and revise their policies from time to time, so if you notice a mistake, let us know. We strive to keep this list up to date!
Finally, comparing options can be frustrating, so if you’re not already in your state’s Homeschooling for College Credit Facebook group, I would highly recommend it so you can communicate with other families in your state. That’s the best way to find out what’s available locally before you have to go outside your area. The best resource we have is the collection of our shared effort.
Type of school: Private 4 year regionally accredited Christian college
Delivery: on campus or online
Called: Dual Enrollment
Assessment scores required: No
Cost for out of state: $225 per course ($75 per credit)
Books: additional cost
Course offerings: selected courses
NOTE: Residents of UT, NY, WI, KY, RI, NJ not eligible
Meg G, a parent from our FB group, has this to say: “My son is in his second year of Dual Enrollment on the Associate’s in General Studies track at Bluefield, and he is also a senior in high school. He earned 27-semester credits at BC last year. During his first year at BC, Bluefield was great, but now in his second year, we’ve discovered some negatives… PROS: 1.) Inexpensive 2.) No testing required for admission, and no testing required for English and Math courses. 3.) Challenging coursework but doable. 4.) Small class size and professors are accessible. 4.) 8-week terms which is perfect for holding my sons’ attention and interest. 5.) Accepts CLEP, DTTS, and ACE credits. 6.) Christian college but does not push their philosophy on students. CONS: 1.) VERY INFLEXIBLE about course substitutions. (My son got closed out of most of his required classes this fall, and BC would not allow him to substitute one of THEIR OWN literature courses for the literature course that he needed.) 2.) Will not accept courses from other colleges unless they match exactly the course that they offer. 3.) They (the registrar) often lose paperwork and do not reply back quickly…At least that’s what our experience has been.”
Type of school: Private 4 year regionally accredited Christian college
Delivery: On campus or online
Called: Dual Enrollment
Assessment scores required: Yes
Cost for out of state: $166/credit. TN students receive a special grant scholarship reducing tuition by 99%.
Books: additional cost
Course offerings: selected offerings
NOTE: Allow dual enrolled students in the study abroad program
Type of school: Private 4 year regionally accredited Christian college
Delivery: Online
Called: Dual Enrollment
Assessment scores required: No
Cost for out of state: $182/credit.
Books: additional cost
Course offerings: selected offerings
NOTE: Students must be in 10th grade or higher (no age restriction)
Type of school: Public 2 year regionally accredited community college
Delivery: on campus or online
Called: Concurrent Enrollment
Assessment scores required: Yes
Cost for out of state: $64 per credit (1-11 credits) $768 flat rate (12+ credits)
Books: additional cost
Course offerings: access to full catalog
Type of school: Public 4 year regionally accredited university
Delivery: Online
Called: Accelerate
Assessment scores required: minimum score of 20 on the ACT, 950 on the SAT, or a recommendation letter from a high school counselor.
Cost for out of state: $169/credit.
Books: additional cost
Course offerings: selected offerings
NOTE: Students must be in 10th grade or higher (no age restriction)
Type of school: Private Christian 4 year regionally accredited university
Delivery: online and on campus
Called: ORU Advantage
Cost for out of state: $250 per class
Books: additional cost
Courses offered: choose from list
NOTE: No age requirement, no entrance exams
Parent Misty G. from our Facebook group has this to say about her 12 and 14 year old daughter’s experiences: “As far as admissions, it was so much easier and pain-free than I thought it would be! I filled out the online form (pretty short), signed a page online saying that as their homeschool administrator I think they can do it, and their admissions person called me to finish everything up. After that, we received e-mails to their registration quick-links and finished everything up there (payment, signing their honor code, etc.) Everything was completely done within a couple of days. (No outside documents needed, just their social security number.)
I highly recommend replacing an existing course with the college course, not adding to your load. Our kids are in American Gov. and Politics and the workload averages 8 hours per week (16 if you stay on the normal class schedule). I’m helping my children set up their calendars today so they stay on track. Also, this week did require a decent amount of my time to explain some college lingo and MLA.
I highly recommend replacing an existing course with the college course, not adding to your load. Our kids are in American Gov. and Politics and the workload averages 8 hours per week (16 if you stay on the normal class schedule). I’m helping my children set up their calendars today so they stay on track. Also, this week did require a decent amount of my time to explain some college lingo and MLA “
Type of school: Private LDS 4-year regionally accredited university
Delivery: Independent study (start/finish any time) or Concurrent Enrollment
Called: BYU Independent Study (any age) or Concurrent Enrollment for 10th/11th gr.
Cost for out of state: $188 per credit I.S. or $30 per credit C.E.
Books: additional cost
Courses offered: choose from Independent Study Catalog (550 classes), while Concurrent Enrollment students choose from any BYU-Idaho courses.
Note: AP Courses also available
Type of school: Public 4-year regionally accredited university
Delivery: Online through World Campus or on campus at any location
Called: Dual Enrollment (must petition for admission if under 11th grade)
Cost for out of state: $555/credit
Courses offered: choose from a selected list, varies by semester up to 8 credits per term.
Note: letter of recommendation, transcript, and standardized test score required.
Type of school: private Christian 4-year regionally accredited
Delivery: online and on campus at the Winston-Salem campus in North Carolina
Called: Dual Enrollment
Cost for out of state: $299 per class (not per credit)
Courses offered: a selected list
Note: admissions require ACT or SAT test score minimums and salvation testimony
Almost as an afterthought, when my 12th grader started using Straighterline this past semester, I decided to enroll my 10th grader- for just one month. My goal was for them to share the textbook I’d just purchased for my older son. Efficiency is always an important part of our budget. They’d share the text, learn lessons together (mostly) and we’d assess after the first class. (NOTE: In our second month, Straighterline’s policy for books changed, and a free edition of an eBook was included with each course’s tuition, so we ended up not spending anything on books after the first month!)
You can read about the basics of using Straighterline in your homeschool, or how to choose your courses in my previous posts. For this post, I just want to provide a brief overview of what my son did, what we spent, and his outcome. As you’ll see, the first month was so successful (earning 9 college credits) that I decided to continue for the duration of the semester (Dec-May). You should know that he dedicated about 1-2 hours per day to his Straighterline course Monday-Friday as part of his regular school schedule. He was able to complete his other homeschool courses (Chemistry with Lab, Consumer Math, and Building Thinking Skills) during another 1-2 hours each day.
As you read the schedule, I list each course and credit earned in the month that I purchased it, not the month he completed it. Some courses were completed in a week, others in a month, and others took longer still. As an example, Nutrition and American Government, courses he’d already taken in homeschool, took him only 1 week each, but writing-intensive courses like English Composition I & II took him about 7 weeks each.
As I write this, he enters his final month of the school year with Straighterline and me. We take a summer vacation, so I’m ready to wrap things up with our kids by Memorial Day. He has completed everything except Chemistry and English II. He has 3 more papers to write for English II and hasn’t started their chemistry course. Since he’s been doing Chemistry with Lab all school year with me, I expect Straighterline’s General Chemistry I to go smoothly and take about 2 weeks. Writing, for him, is a long and arduous process. I expect he’ll struggle through until the very end.
Grades: His grades have been fine. Straighterline requires a minimum passing score of 70% for their courses, and he’s finished most of his courses in the mid-80’s. His best course grade was English Composition I (100%) and his lowest course grade was Introduction to Psychology (79%). Final course grades issued by Straighterline are based only on quizzes and exams (except composition and lab courses) so testing acumen is important if you want to score well. Since these credits will only appear as “credit” on his college transcript, the final grades aren’t important to his GPA. While I used his Straighterline courses to inform the grade I awarded him on his high school transcript, in most cases, the grades I gave him differed slightly. (NOTE: Since Straighterline is not a college, you never have to disclose any grades or credits earned/not earned through them. Dual enrollment, on the other hand, requires full disclosure on college applications)
Month | Class | Cost | Discounts Applied | Credits Earned |
December | Membership
Introduction to Religion Microbiology Business Ethics |
$99
$49 $25 $69 |
-$20 coupon
-$20 coupon |
9 |
January | Membership
Cultural Anthropology Medical Terminology Introduction to Nutrition |
$99
$49 $49 $49 |
9 | |
February | Membership
English Composition I English Composition II |
$99
$69 $69 |
6 | |
March | Membership
Environmental Science American Government Introduction to Psychology |
$99
$59 $59 $59 |
-$49 coupon | 9 |
April | Membership
Chemistry I Introduction to Business |
$99
$59 $59 |
-$50 coupon | 6 |
May | Membership | $99 | – | |
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$1376
-$139 coupons $1237 |
39 |
The total we spent over 6 months was: $1237
Total credits earned: 39
Breakdown average per month: $206/month
The average price per credit: $32/credit
And no, you don’t have to take the AP exam to list AP on your transcript. You CAN of course, but if you’re sure that the ACE credit offered via Straighterline will do, you don’t have to. Some of you may want AP scores for other reasons- so that’s fine, but we skipped them.
Want to know which Straighterline classes to take and why? Read this post.
College subjects are not treated equally. In this post, we’ll predict where your teen’s English 101 or Management CLEP should fall once they go to college. This is important because choosing college courses for your teen to take while in high school can be a little overwhelming, and this piece of the puzzle will help you tremendously.
This list is a general guide to help you understand where your teen’s college credit accumulated in high school might fall once they go to college. Note: if your teen is already enrolled in college or is certain of the college they’ll attend, disregard this list and ask the college directly. This is a guide for those 1 or more years away from enrollment.
If you want to read one of my earlier posts about how courses become accepted for credit, see my post on Linked in called “Will it Transfer?” Jennifer on LinkedIn
Let’s proceed as if the credit has been accepted into the college. A typical FILTER process looks something like this:
TIPS for 4-YEAR BACHELOR OF ARTS/ SCIENCE degree seekers: As you see in the filter process, accumulating a lot of non-liberal arts credit before you’ve selected a school or degree can be risky later – as a rule of thumb for high school students who plan to earn a 4 year degree, take no more than 1 non-liberal arts course for every 2 liberal arts courses. This ratio will make for optimum transfer.
Tips for ASSOCIATE OF APPLIED SCIENCE degree seekers: It’s likely that your degree will require no more than 15 general education courses. If possible, your best bet is to no accumulate more than 6 credits in any one liberal arts category. For instance, no more than 6 credits of history. The majority of your degree will consist of degree-specific courses, so you don’t need a lot of liberal arts/gen eds.
Tips for ASSOCIATE OF ARTS seekers: Most of the AA degrees consist entirely of liberal arts courses. As such, choose only courses from the liberal arts list.
Social Science
Art / Fine Art
Advanced Writing
Communication
Dance
Film
Foreign Languages
Journalism
Literature
Music
Philosophy
Photography
Religion
Speech
Theater
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
Environmental Sciences
Geology
Mathematics / Statistics
Meteorology
Physics
Anthropology
Archaeology
Economics
Geography
History
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology
Automotive / Engine / Body / Machine
Allied Health / Dental
Aviation
Business / Accounting
Computer Technology
Data Processing
Education
Electronics
Engineering/Engineering Technology
Finance
Fire Science
Health Education / PE / Fitness
Health Services / Medical Assistant
Home Economics / Culinary Arts
Insurance
Library Science
Management / Business /Human Resources
Marketing / Sales / Advertising / Graphic Design
Nursing / Nursing Assistant
Operations Management
Radiologic Technology
Radio-Television
Real Estate
Recreation / Coaching / Sport / Leisure
Rehabilitation Services / Counseling
Secretarial Science / Administrative Assistant
Social Work / Counseling
Technical Services / Repair
Student Success / Study Skills / Intro to College / Orientation
This group of colleges is said to incorporate The Great Books into their curriculum, which could indicate some willingness to award transfer credit.
If you’re not interested in The Great Books as the foundation of your high school program, but like the idea of a college degree, there is an ENTIRE college degree option built around the Great Books. Thomas Aquinas College (California) holds Regional Accreditation (the golden standard) and is very homeschool friendly. Their degree in Liberal Arts is typically considered preparatory for graduate study in medicine, law, education, etc.
If your student studies Latin, be sure they attempt the Latin exam options for college credit. Foreign Language for College Credit