Earning College Credit in High School

Brett Promisloff tries to solve a problem in a college engineering design class. Such classes can lower college costs.
Mayra Avila has a busy next two weeks. First, it’s her high school prom. Then next week, it’s her government and English composition college finals.
What? High school prom and college finals? How can one girl be both a college and high school student?
Avila, a student at West Potomac High, is one of many high school students who are dually enrolled in high school and college. These dually enrolled students save money on lower tuition costs while earning credit for high school and college classes. Instead of paying $286 for her English class, Avila pays only $43.
“As I tell kids and parents, it’s the best deal since sliced bread,” said Bruce Jankoqitz, assistant principal at Avila’s school. “These are kids who have not come from the orientation that college is in your future. It serves a niche for students who are motivated to go to college [and might be] the first first in the family to go to college.”
At my high school, students took English and math at a college that was just down the road. They attended high school classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, they went to college classes. When we graduated, some of my friends had up to 18 hours of college credit already! That’s over a semester of college already out of the way.
Students can also earn college credit through Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs, which test a student’s knowledge over a subject.
I think the dual enrollment is a better option than these tests though, because it gives the students an opportunity to experience what a college class is like. According to my friends and their experiences, dual enrollment is much more involving and demanding, but it also taught them more and challenged them to succeed.
“You can’t slack off on anything,” said Brett Promisloff, a Montgomery, Alabama high school student currently enrolled in Introduction to Engineering Design. “Everything we do counts. you have to focus more and really pay attention.”
via The Washington Post.