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Dual Enrollment Puts Education on Fast Track: Students Save Time, Money By Earning College Credits in High School

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 12:07 CDT

By Christina Cooke, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn.

May 10--Dual enrollment systems in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia permit high school students to earn college credit in certain classes while they are in high school.

Phil Cook, assistant vice president for enrollment at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., said more students are taking advantage of the system. This year, the private university had a 50 percent increase in the number of dually enrolled students, he said.

"It's a trend," Mr. Cook said. "We're getting more and more students coming to Lee with college credits they've earned while in high school. We've actually had to adjust the way we process applications."

Some area colleges offer dual enrollment courses on their campuses, while others send their instructors to high schools. Still other colleges offer a mixture of the two options. Lottery funds offer financial assistance in both Georgia and Tennessee to students who qualify.

Students say that the jointenrollment programs save them time and money.

Cassandra Whaley received a general transfer degree from Cleveland State Community College last Saturday and will graduate from Bradley Central High this weekend. She took dual enrollment classes for three years. She plans to attend the University of Tennessee in the fall and eventually pursue a master's degree. "I've gotten to get a lot of experience with college," she said. "Now, it's only going to take four years after high school, instead of six, to get my master's degree in marine biology."

Brittany Williams, a senior at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, has taken the certified nursing assistant, or CNA, course through Northwestern Technical Community College in Rock Spring, Ga., this semester.

She said that if she passes the state board test next week, she will earn a CNA license, which will make her a competitive applicant for a job at a nursing home. She said she plans to work as a CNA to help pay her way through the nursing program at Northwestern next school year.

"I'm pretty much halfway to getting where I need to be," she said.

Dr. Dorenda McConnell, dean of instruction and distance education at Northwestern, said that dual enrollment courses help motivate students to graduate because students enjoy using the skills they're learning. "When (students) have aspirations to go into the medical field, (the dual enrollment class) gives them a reason to stay in high school," she said.

The dual enrollment system lets high schools offer courses they might not otherwise be able to afford, officials said.

Chattooga High in Summerville, Ga., brings in an instructor from Northwestern Technical College each day to teach CISCO, a computer networking class.

Jim Dean, who oversees the vocational programs at the high school, said the school offered a CISCO course taught by a high school teacher for about 10 years but lost funding and had to drop it at the end of the 2003-04 school year.

"I wanted that really hightech course," said Mr. Dean, "and because of dual enrollment, we were able to pick it up (again)."

He said he plans to talk to representatives at Northwestern Technical today about adding more dual enrollment courses, including a public safety class.

Mr. Cook said Lee University uses the dual enrollment courses as recruitment tools.

He said 64 percent of last year's eligible dual enrollment students have applied to Lee and plan to attend in the coming school year.

"We believe that if we can get students on our campus and in our classrooms with our faculty, this will convince them to enroll here after they graduate," he said.

E-mail Christina Cooke at ccooke@timesfreepress.com

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Source: Chattanooga Times/Free Press

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