Students and Parents
Dual credit is the term given to courses in which high school students have the opportunity to earn both high school and college credits simultaneously. Dual Credit courses can be taken at your high school, at a college campus, or through online courses. Dual Credit courses can be taught by credentialed high school teachers or college faculty.
Students should check with their high school counselor to confirm how the college level course will be counted towards their graduation requirements. Often times it can replace a high school course offering to meet the same requirement.
An Early College program is a structured program that allows for students to simultaneously earn credits to graduate high school with either an Indiana College Core and/or an Associate degree.
The Core Transfer Library (CTL) is a list of courses that will transfer among Indiana public institutions offering those courses. All meet general education or elective requirements, and some may apply to your degree program.
There isn’t a specific grade level requirement for students to to enroll in dual credit courses. Some courses may have a pre-requisite requirement to demonstrate readiness.
There is no limit to the number Dual Credits that a student can earn.
Most Dual Credit comes with some form of discounted rate compared to traditional costs. IU ACP courses are offered at no cost to the student. AP and CLEP include costs for the exams. Credits to College courses are offered at a discounted rate. Other Collegiate credits costs are managed by the awarding institution. Federal and State financial aid are not available for dual credit courses.
Advanced Placement (AP): High school course that prepares students to take an AP exam at the end of the semester. The exam is scored between 1 and 5. At Indiana public colleges or universities, an exam score of 3 will be awarded credit; the amount of credit and the course for which it is awarded is determined by the college or university.
Advanced College Program (ACP): IU College courses that are taught by a credentialled high school instructor within the high school. The course follows the same rigor and structure of an IU collegiate equivalent.
Credits to College: IU Kokomo courses that are taught by an IU Kokomo credentialled collegiate instructor within the IU Kokomo collegiate setting or mode of instruction.
Other College Credits: College courses that would be evaluated for transferability and transfer credit purposes, when students send a collegiate transcript to initiate the transfer credit process.
College Level Examination Program (CLEP): A series of tests covering history and social sciences, literature and composition, science, mathematics, business and world languages that students can take to earn college credit instead of taking a course.
International Baccalaureate (IB): High school program that includes individual exams that can be taken and compiled to form the IB Diploma. Students will receive college level transferred credits according to individual institutions that are receiving the credits. Credits are assigned depending on the student’s final score.
- How will my student benefit from participating in a dual credit program?
- Students will receive college credit and high school credit simultaneously.
- Students can graduate from high school with transferable college credits.
- Students can fast-track their undergraduate or workforce degrees.
- Student may save on tuition and fees by reducing the time to complete a degree.
- Students will have access to a full range of college student support services while in high school to aid them in a smooth transition to college after graduation.
A student’s grades and/or withdrawals could impact their future eligibility for financial aid. To be eligible for financial aid after high school, a student must meet Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) standards while taking dual credit courses.
Dual credit encompasses many different options for students. Some of the options are free and others have costs associated for students that utilize the free and reduced lunch program. ACP courses are free to all students.
Educators
Yes. Indiana law currently requires each Indiana high school to offer a minimum of two dual credit courses. The intent is to expand opportunities for students to take college-level coursework while in high school. It also provides an opportunity to fulfill the Core 40 with Academic Honors (AHD) and Core 40 with Technical Honors (THD) diploma requirements using the dual credit options and will help more students prepare for college and careers. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED603615.pdf
High schools can establish Dual Credit partnerships by partnering with collegiate level education institutions.
There is no age restriction for students to earn Dual Credit. Typically, high school students are most appropriate for Dual Credit course work.
There is no limit to the number Dual Credits that a student can earn. Typically, the limits come from the number of courses offered at their high school.
Most Dual Credit comes with some form of discounted rate. IU ACP courses are offered at no cost to the student. AP and CLEP include costs for the exams. Credits to College courses are offered at a discounted rate when the course request goes through the high school counselor. Other Collegiate credits costs are managed by the awarding institution.
An IEP does not disqualify a student from having access to Dual Credit courses. If a student is needing accommodations, students would need to work with the Accessibilities Coordinator on the IU Kokomo campus for accommodation requests.
AP/IB scores would be sent via college board to the institution and scores would be evaluated for transfer credits. ACP and Credits to College courses are already in the IU system as they are IU credits. Other collegiate credits would be transferred in upon receipt of an official transcript from awarding institution.
The college is responsible for the college course materials and awards the college credit upon successful completion of the dual credit course. The high school is responsible for determining the specific high school credit that will be awarded for the college course.
All grading decisions, including those affecting GPA, are made per local schools and their policies.