Duel Enrollment programs, what are they and how do they work

  Hello friends,

One of the questions I've received most often over the past year is what is duel enrollment and how does it work. Ever since we decided our daughter would participate in the program we have had many questions from family and friends. Mainly out of intrigue and interest, but I’m sure some curiosity about what the program is and how it works ;) 

As most of our friends and family know, our daughter began her first year as a duel enrolled student at the beginning of this school year. She is both a junior in high school & enrolled as a freshmen at our local community college. The program she is enrolled in allows her to simultaneously earn both her high school credits and a years worth of college credits while she completes prerequisites at the community college. Depending on your child's interests and level of commitment to the program it is possible for a student that is enrolled to graduate high school & receive an AA degree at the same time. 

While my daughter is taking courses she would be required to take for high school credit (math courses, writing courses, history, science or extracurricular courses) she is also earning credits towards a college AA degree by completing prerequisite courses. It is an excellent option for her to experience college courses while still being in high school and as part of the program any course that she completes minimizes the amount needed for a future degree. 

One of the biggest draws to this program is that her college courses are completely free! *Depending on the state this may not be true for everyone but it is the norm for this kind of program in Oregon. We are also enrolled in our distance learning program, that is through our state and they pay for all of her college courses with her state alloted funds. Another benefit of the program is that it provides high schoolers access to learning options not available to them otherwise. It is an awesome benefit that she will also gain life experience communicating and working with adults, while she also explores potential career interests. Lastly, if this is something that sounds like a good fit for your child spend some time researching which community colleges are participating in the program as your child may have the option of attending a college that is not close by in proximity. With most colleges offering online courses (almost all now due to covid) your child could have hundreds of options depending on where you are located and which community colleges are included in the program. 

How it works: 

In order to participate in the program we registered through our distance learning program (dlp) by contacting the representative for the program at the school & a guidance counselor at the college who works with high schoolers in the program (I have heard that there are options for students attending public schools as well, although I am not as familiar with them and suggest you research what is available in your area). They helped us to complete all of the colleges registration forms, get her all set up and answered any questions we had. Once she was registered she received an email with all of the contact info, her college email info, important dates etc. We set up a phone meeting with her guidance counselor at the college who walked us through options of courses to register her for & then we had a zoom chat with her educational facilitator at our dlp to cover which courses would count for the high school credits she needs. Lastly we registered for her chosen courses and purchased the necessary books etc for the courses (She began her first semester at the end of September, 2020). 

While my daughter is taking courses she would have been required to take for high school credit anyway: math courses, writing courses, history, science or extracurricular courses, she is also earning credits towards a college AA degree by completing prerequisite courses. It is an excellent option for her to experience college courses while still being in high school and as part of the program any course that she completes minimizes the amount needed for a future degree. 

One of the biggest draws to this program is that her college courses are completely free! *Depending on the state this may not be true for everyone but it is the norm for this kind of program in Oregon. We also are a part of the distance learning program, that program is through our state and they pay for all of her college courses with her allotment funds. Another benefit of the program is that it provides high schoolers access to learning options not available to them otherwise. It is an awesome benefit that she will also gain life experience communicating and working with adults, while she also explores potential career interests. Lastly, if this is something that sounds like a good fit for your child spend some time researching which community colleges are participating in the program as your child may have the option of attending a college that is not in close proximity. With most colleges offering online courses (almost all now due to covid) your child could have hundreds of options depending on where you are located and which community colleges are included in the program. 

I’d recommend this type of program to anyone looking to help their child broaden their opportunities, advance their schooling and open the door to options your child might not otherwise have access to. Also, I’d suggest looking into distance learning programs. They are such a huge blessing and provide so many resources for homeschool families. We have thoroughly enjoyed both programs we have participated in and I will share more in detail about them in another post so keep an eye out for that post coming soon! :) 

Happy researching friends, I hope you find a program that is the perfect fit for your families!

~K