Our school offers many opportunities to prepare students for college, one of which is dual credit. Dual credit is a great way to boost a resume, or get college credits out of the way early. This is done by allowing students to take classes in high school that will count towards their college education.
However, there are a few limitations which if fixed, it would drastically elevate this opportunity.
One of the main limitations of dual credit is the lack of schools that accept these courses. Our school’s dual credit program is through Missouri State University (MSU), Ozark Technical (OTC), and Drury University. All public colleges in Missouri are also required by law to accept these courses.
Students that plan on going to a private or out of state school are taking a huge risk when they take a dual credit class. When signing up for dual credits students should feel secure in knowing that their credits will count in college. Instead, every dual credit class they take is a gamble in whether they have wasted their time and money or not.
Not only does the lack of schools that accept these credits diminish the quality of these courses, but also the lack of classes that offer dual credit. Many classes that are available at a university are not included at our school. Though I understand that it is unreasonable to expect that our school has every college level class, but it isn’t unreasonable to ask that the list be expanded.
If our school offered more classes that can be dual credited, students would not only have an easier time getting these classes out of the way, but it would also draw more students towards taking these classes as a whole.
There have been multiple instances of students that started their college career as a sophomore or junior, just through taking dual credit courses in high school. If more classes had included this opportunity, it would be much easier to achieve this.
On top of saving time, dual credit minimizes the amount of money students have to pay in the long run. Dual credit may seem expensive now, with the price averaging around 200 dollars, but at a university, that same class would be nearly a thousand dollars. Not allowing students to take certain courses as dual credit that they potentially need for their major is causing them to pay around eight hundred dollars more than they need to, adding yet another inconvenience to the stressful season of planning and paying for college.
Dual credit can be a great option for students, but the limitations take away from the potential of this opportunity. With only a few simple fixes, a new world can open up for the students at our school.
