A diploma is a door. For some students, we would rather it opened onto a hallway they have already started walking down.
That is the idea behind dual credit, one of the pathways in our College & Careers division. It is one of the most useful things a motivated high-school student can do — and one of the most misunderstood. Here is the plain version.
What dual credit actually is
A dual-credit course is a genuine college course a student takes while still in high school, and it counts twice: once toward the high-school diploma, and once as college credit on a transcript a university will recognize. The student isn't doing extra work for a certificate that evaporates at graduation. They are banking real credit.
How it works here
Through partnerships with U.S.-based community colleges, eligible students — generally from the upper grades — can enroll in college coursework alongside their core classes. Advising matches the courses to where the student is actually headed, so the credit they earn is credit they will use.
What a student can graduate with
Depending on the pathway and how much a student completes, it is possible to finish high school with roughly one to two years of college credit already earned. In family terms: a year or two of tuition not spent, and a year or two of a young person's life pointed at what comes next rather than repeated.
The goal is not to rush childhood. It is to make sure the last years of school count toward something specific.
What it asks in return
Dual credit is real college work, graded on a college standard. It rewards maturity, time management, and a student ready to be spoken to as a young adult. It is not right for every student in every year — and part of good advising is knowing when a student is ready and when a semester of patience serves them better.
Dual credit or AP?
Both can earn college credit; the difference is mechanism. AP credit depends on a single exam score and each university's policy; dual credit is earned course by course on a college transcript. Many of our students do some of each. The right mix depends on the colleges a student is aiming at.